Socio-cultural Sustainability and "Buen Vivir" (Good Living) in Salango (Ecuador): evaluation of the heritage management capacity in a community touristic center

MARÍA LUZ ENDERE; LAURA ZULAICA

La Plata

Simposio; ICOMOS Scientific Symposium, Sustainability: Cultural heritage and Sustainable development; 2018

ICOMOS Internacional e ICOMOS Argentina

Achieving socio-cultural sustainability in a community requires, among other issues, the preservation of its cultural heritage, which guarantees that social values and identities endure for the benefit of present and future generations. Ecuador, under the paradigm of Good Living, has stated in its National Constitution "the right to build and maintain cultural identity and to access and disseminate the expressions of peoples". Based on these premises, this work proposes to evaluate the management capacity of the Salango Community Touristic Center, located in the province of Manabí. Salango is a multi-component site with five occupancy levels since 2700 a.C. until the arrival of the Spanish in 1531. The Center was built on land donated by the Commune and the archaeological site museum, which opened in 1987, is its most relevant reference. There are exhibited 245 pieces declared as a national cultural heritage collection, belonging to the Valdivia, Machalilla, Chorrera-Engoroy, Bahia, Guangala and Manteña cultures.In order to evaluate the management capacity of the Center to ensure the socio-cultural sustainability of Salango, a qualitative-quantitative methodology applied in a previous study (Comuna de Agua Blanca) is used, which includes criteria and indicators for evaluating this capacity, understood as the skills that the community possesses to preserve the archaeological site in all its integrity. The methodology is based on three axes of analysis: capacity for economic sustainability, transmission of knowledge and knowledge and ability to sustain activities. To a greater or lesser extent, these axes manifest problems that affect the sustainability of the site and therefore the Good Living of their community. However, the participation of national scientists and institutions working jointly with the local people should be pointed out as a positive aspect. The evaluation of management capacity through specific criteria and indicators is considered to be a useful starting point to reverse critical situations and ensure the safeguarding of cultural heritage.