Efectos económicos y sociales actuales de la mineríaen Nambija Bajo, Zamora Chinchipe.

Abstract

Abstract:The purpose of this research is to evaluate both economic and societal impacts of artisanal mining within families of the town of Nambija Bajo, Zamora-Chinchipe Province, Ecuador. The methodology employed by the researcher utilized a mixed-methods approach with a non-experimental cross-sectional research design. Additionally, data was collected from a snowball sample consisting of 59 family heads. The survey tool used to collect the data included a 39 items structured questionnaire. Results indicated that approximately 72.9 percent of families reported involvement with an aspect of mining; nevertheless, none of the sub-domains assessed showed average or better scores for perceived quality of life. An ordinal logit model identified monthly family income as the most significant predictive variable associated with family economic hardship (p = 0.001) but did not find statistical significance when evaluating dependency upon mining economically. In addition to these findings were noted gaps in health care accessibility, irregular attendance at school by minors, and high levels of distrust toward institutions. Overall, the results found in this research support previous studies indicating that artisanal extractivism can result in conflicting outcomes regarding how local populations benefit economically from the extraction of minerals in rural Amazonian communities.