Collective action and social metabolism

territorial sustainability experiences in Ecuador and Nicaragua

Abstract

The conventional development model, focused on economic growth, has generated exploitation and environmental degradation. In parallel, experiences that propose new relationships between humans and nature, where collective action influences social metabolism and promotes alternative forms of territorial sustainability, are resisting. In this context, this study seeks to examine the interrelationship between social metabolism and collective action in the Association of Agroecological Producers of Azuay (APA Azuay), Ecuador and the Center for Understanding with Nature (CEN), Nicaragua. These experiences seek a situated sustainability, built from peasant, indigenous and Afro-descendant communities; from women and youth. They prioritize care, environmental justice, and territorial autonomy, in contrast to the extractivist and centralized logics of conventional development. For this purpose, a qualitative methodology was used, using interviews, focus groups, workshops and documentary review. The results show that collective action is based on shared decision-making, a situation that affects the social metabolic process. This process allows for sustainable management of local resources, based on reciprocity, care and co-responsibility, which together strengthen territorial sustainability. The conclusion is that it is possible to configure a social metabolism in which energy and matter are appropriated, transformed, used, distributed and, in certain cases, recycled in a way that favors the reproduction of life and ecosystemic balance. This type of metabolism, derived from forms of collective action, can contribute to fairer and more regenerative processes of territorial sustainability.