Development with Identity: Community, Culture and Sustainability in the Andes explores indigenous Latin American peoples’ relationship with the environment and how that bond affects the development of these communities’ economic and cultural needs.
At the same time, scientists are studying the interactions between these societies and the environment in an attempt to reconcile the two.
Edited by Robert E. Rhoades, an anthropology research professor at UGA, Development with Identity outlines a six-year interdisciplinary research project implemented in Cotacachi, Ecuador, with a focus on natural resource management.
The report studies the attempts by both scientists and native peoples to reach a healthy agreement concerning environmental use.
Over time, these communities’ exploitations of the land have transformed the environment into a more modern landscape. Biodiversity, soils and water and equitable development, as they relate to the human-environment relationship, also are discussed.