Paper short abstract:

Buen Vivir is argued in academia and politics as a community-based Latin American alternative to development. The extractivism that historically underpins Latin America's development challenges community values. In the face of this adversity the aims of Buen Vivir are contradicted and challenged.

Paper long abstract:

Buen Vivir is a holistic and biocentric alternative to development arisen from Indigenous worldviews, which emphasizes the importance of the role of nature in wellbeing. It rejects economic growth as an indicator of wellbeing and instead focuses on the importance of the nature-society continuum to achieving holistic wellbeing and sustainability. Extractive activities that underlie the region's development to date however are argued both in the literature and by communities to be antithetic to the achievement of Buen Vivir. What does this then mean to the communities impacted by the encroachment of extractive activities on their territory? How are their worldviews and livelihoods challenged by these real or perceived impacts? To explore these issues, I conducted a short-term ethnographic study in the Ecuador's Cotacachi Canton to examine the various definitions and deep social understandings of Buen Vivir on the ground within the context of extractivism. Cotacachi has a history of mining resistance, and has been declared to be Latin America's first 'Ecological County'. It is also home to Intag, one of world's most biologically rich and diverse regions. In parts of the county mining has already posed moral dilemmas to practices of Buen Vivir, and is threatening to infiltrate more communities in the region. The study seeks to analyse the tensions between various actors (communities, government and community organisations) in the context of extractivism and examine the challenges that extractive activities pose or are perceived to pose on the attainment of Buen Vivir.