Mining, water, and socio-environmental transformations in the Condor mountain range: Case study of the Mirador Mining Project, Ecuador

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17561/at.27.9078

Keywords:

Mining, Socio-enviromental impacts, Conflicts, Transformations

Abstract

The article examines the impact of large-scale mining on water resources in indigenous territories, located in the southern Amazon of Ecuador, where the first open-pit mining project is being implemented. It explores territorial transformation processes from the perspective of water justice and dispossession through pollution in the expansion phase of the mine's exploitation. Mixed methodologies were applied through semi-structured interviews and surveys. The results identify socio-environmental conflicts associated with the impacts on water resources due to infrastructure construction, tailings facilities, and the production and transport of copper concentrate from the project. In the mining context, the socio-ecological landscape is not only restructured but the cultural makeup of the indigenous communities is also altered, as they inhabit sacrificial zones that reduce the availability and quality of water for subsistence and ancestral practices.

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Author Biographies

  • Maleny Reyes-Conza, Universidad Técnica Particular de Loja-UTPL

    PhD Candidate in Social Sciences at the University of Granada. Holds a Master's degree in Local Community Development Management from the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador, and is both an Environmental Management Engineer and a Lawyer from the Technical University of Loja. She also has a Diploma in Strategic Litigation for the Defense of Nature. She is a tenured professor at UTPL, teaching courses in Socio-Environmental Conflicts, Environmental Legislation, Environmental Law, Productive Management 1, Practicum 1, pre-professional internships and community engagement, and Practicum 2, pre-professional internships and community engagement, Risk Legislation, and Mining Law. With 13 years of experience in research projects funded both internally and externally at the Observatory of Socio-Environmental Conflicts of the Department of Legal Sciences at UTPL. Her work spans research, innovation, community engagement, and international cooperation focusing on: environmental justice, alternative methods of resolving socio-environmental conflicts, governance of natural resources, local lifestyles in indigenous territories, and small to large-scale mining contexts in the Southern Amazon of Ecuador. She specializes in the study of water resources in mining.

  • Francisco Jiménez Bautista, University of Granada

    It has been developed in the interdisciplinary field that covers the field of Education, Geography and Anthropology, in three lines of research: Anthropology and ecological and urban Geography; Cultural conflicts: youth, racism and migrations; Studies for peace and conflict. His first research experiences were carried out at the Institute of Peace and Conflict of the University of Granada from its beginnings (1988, being a Founding member of the Peace and Conflict Seminar and Institute since 1997 and continuing to work to this day). In 2002 he graduated with a Doctor of Humanities, Department of History, Geography and History of Art, Faculty of Humanities, University of Almería.
    He began as a Full Professor at the “La Inmaculada Concepción” School of Teaching, attached to the University of Granada (1995-2001), to continue since 2000 in the Department of Social Anthropology of the University of Granada, Spain. At this time, in recent years, he teaches the following subjects: in the Degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology, the subjects of Ecological Anthropology and Urban Anthropology. In the Geography and Territorial Planning Degree, the subject of Anthropology. He has taught the Doctorate “Peace, conflicts and democracy” since 2003, being coordinator from (2003-2007), a section that has been evaluated by ANECA, giving the quality doctorate; in addition to three doctorates within the Department of Social Anthropology and in several master's degrees currently: Master of Culture of Peace, Conflicts, Education and Human Rights; Master of Development Cooperation, public management and NGDOs; Master of Social Education; Master of Family Mediation, and Master of Secondary Education. His lines of research, indicated above, move in the field of interdisciplinarity and emerging, which has allowed him to publish in several journals indexed in the most important databases such as those that appear in ISI Thompson/Scopus and others of the Social Sciences, especially in topics on urban and ecological conflicts; Research for peace; cultural conflicts, racism and migrations. In the last six-year period, the number of articles and the quality of the Journals where he has been publishing have increased. Currently, he has 3 Six-year Research Periods, the last one being from 2017-2022. He has participated in different research projects in interdisciplinary teams related to the Social Sciences, in a total of 24 research projects.

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Published

2025-07-10

Issue

No. 27 (2025): Water imaginaries and narratives: multicultural inquiries

Section

Miscellaneous

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Copyright (c) 2025 Maleny Reyes-Conza, Francisco Jiménez Bautista

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How to Cite

Reyes Conza, M. G., & Jiménez Bautista, F. . (2025). Mining, water, and socio-environmental transformations in the Condor mountain range: Case study of the Mirador Mining Project, Ecuador. Agua Y Territorio Water and Landscape, 27, 199-215. https://doi.org/10.17561/at.27.9078