<p> </p><p>The thesis discusses the backpacking culture in Ecuador. It proposes a clarification of the issue and discusses the problem from two perspectives. Questions are raised about the backpacking identity, the backpacking travel style and how they use given facilities in the host country. The work focuses and analyses the strengths and weaknesses of the destination through the lens of a backpacker. The empirical material is taken from intensive interviews conducted in Ecuador.</p><p>A discussion reviews the backpacking identity, how and why backpackers travel; and the backpacker’s opinion about sustainable tourism in South America. In addition, the thesis concentrates on the travellers’ finances and how they prepare for an extended journey.</p><p> </p>

This thesis explores the field of dollarisation as a macroeconomic instrument to increase domestic and foreign investments. The dollarisation is a pressing issue, especially for countries suffering from high inflation rate and decreasing purchasing power of their national currency. The aim of the study is to investigate whether the dollarisation in Ecuador has had any effects on domestic and foreign investment. The frame of references consists of two parts. In the first part, we present a introduction to the dollarisation concept, the origins and the effects of the implementation. The second part concerns domesticand foreign investment. The determinant factors of expected profitability are presented herein which constitutes our main tool for analysis.

This senior thesis project examines how the educational system in Ecuador affects the youth of the country. It al so explores the aspirations mothers have for their children in terms of obtaining an education as well as their opinions about the current educational system in Ecuador. The investigation consisted of conducting interviews with both indigenous mothers who live in the countryside and mothers who live in the city of Quito. 1 chose to study two different demographics because I was curious if there were differences within the two groups on these issues. Moreover, 1 used my own observations as well as literary works to help me corroborate the information 1 received from the mothers to help me draw my conclusions. As 1 finished my interviews with 4 mothers from Cotacachi and 4 mothers from Quito, 1 found that the adolescents do differ in the way they access education, and how mothers perceive the educational system. Through data and interviews, 1 gathered that access to education as well as level of school attained by indigenous mothers and children is much lower than that of those in Quito. Nonetheless, there were similarities between the two groups in that they both had high aspirations for their child's educational future. Even though there are problems and inequalities in the educational system in Ecuador, the mothers expressed some hope as the government has made some positive changes.

<p>This thesis explores the field of dollarisation as a macroeconomic instrument to increase domestic and foreign investments. The dollarisation is a pressing issue, especially for countries suffering from high inflation rate and decreasing purchasing power of their national currency. The aim of the study is to investigate whether the dollarisation in Ecuador has had any effects on domestic and foreign investment. The frame of references consists of two parts. In the first part, we present a introduction to the dollarisation concept, the origins and the effects of the implementation. The second part concerns domesticand foreign investment. The determinant factors of expected profitability are presented herein which constitutes our main tool for analysis.</p>

Helicobacter pylori infection causes chronic type B gastritis, peptic ulcer disease, gastric adenocarcinoma, and gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tumor. Infection with H. pylori is common in parts of the developing world. The Clínica Misional Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe serves indigenous people of the Ecuadorian Amazon. At the clinic, gastritis is a common diagnosis that is based solely on reported symptoms and is presumed to be due to H. pylori infection. Additionally, gastric cancer, a corollary of H. pylori infection, is the leading cause of cancer deaths in Ecuador and, thus, an important public health concern. To the best of our knowledge, the prevalence of H. pylori infection among the inhabitants of rural Ecuador has never been assessed. The primary aim of this study was to determine the seroprevalence of H. pylori in this population. We compared rates of seropositivity among patients with and without symptoms suggestive of gastritis and among patients who reported untreated and exclusively treated water consumption. Additionally, a sampling of children was tested to begin to assess the age of serological conversion. Using the Quidel QuickVue H. pylori gII test, we found near universal seropositivity among adults aged 18 to 65 years (117/120 = 98%) and among children aged 2 to 18 years (13/14 = 93%). Given the high prevalence of H. pylori and its complications in rural Ecuador, this population may benefit from intervention to eradicate the bacterium. However, there is a lack of evidence to inform management decisions. There is a need for studies with large numbers of patients and long-term follow-up to assess the costs and benefits of population-based treatment.

Tenn, Vanderbilt Univ., Diss.--Nashville, 2005. / Kopie, ersch. im Verl. UMI, Ann Arbor, Mich.

Despite an increase in the number of Ecuadorian medical professionals, health outcomes in rural areas of the country have steadily declined over the past decade. Using a political economic framework and data collected from interviews with Ecuadorian doctors, government officials, policy makers, and local rural populations, this thesis investigates how the interplay among medical migration, educational structures, and public health policy contributes to growing health disparities between urban and rural dwellers. Addressing each of these factors both individually and collectively, this thesis also outlines a series of policy recommendations that will allow the Ecuadorian healthcare system to better meet the needs of its rural population.

This dissertation examines the reconfiguration of popular environmental politics in the context of so-called sustainable mining development in Ecuador. Progressive governments in Latin America herald sustainable mining initiatives as the lynchpin to development capable of generating revenues to finance social welfare programs and protecting the environment. If this is so, my dissertation asks, then why has a proposed sustainable gold mine provoked such bitter opposition from dairy farmers in the parish of Victoria del Portete? My dissertation follows a group of indigenous and mestizo dairy farmers in the southern Ecuadorian Andes to understand why they oppose gold mining in their watershed and traces the cultural and political transformations that followed from their activism. I make four key arguments in this dissertation. First, I argue that sustainable mining plans place a premium on local water resources and have the effect of rearticulating local water disputes. Whereas owners of small and large dairy farms have historically disputed local access to water resources now they have created a unified movement against the proposed gold mine project. Second, I argue that knowledge practices and political discourses enabled farmers with varying claims to ethnic ancestry and socio-economic standing to establish connections with each other and with national indigenous leaders, Catholic priests, artists, and urban ecologists. Together they have formed a movement in defense of life. My analysis extends common understandings of the nature of human agency and political life by examining the role that non-human entities play in shaping contemporary environmental politics. Third, as a result of the mobilizations, new socio-environmental formations have emerged. The watershed has become a sacred place called Kimsacocha, which is venerated by farmers through new cultural practices as the source of life. Finally, the mobilizations in defense of life have re-centered indigeneity in unexpected ways. Farmers with and without indigenous ancestry as well as their urban allies are now claiming an indigenous identity. Unlike previous understandings of identity in the region, indigeneity does not denote a shared racial, cultural, or class position but refers to a particular way of understanding and relation to the environment. / text

This dissertation investigates the human dimensions of environmental transformations spurred by international climate change mitigation agreements—such as the Kyoto Protocol—that encourage lowering greenhouse gas emissions with ‘green’ market strategies like biofuel and ecological services development projects. It is methodologically grounded in “collaborative activist geographical methods” and theoretically based at the nexus of development, political ecologies, neoliberalization of Nature, and geographies of hope literatures. It examines the contradictory and complex ways that state “climate change mitigation development” projects surround and infiltrate the Indigenous and Afro-ecuadorian ancestral territories of the canton of San Lorenzo (Esmeraldas Province), located in the “Northwest Pacific Fronter Territory-region of Ecuador”. This research asks to what degree the Ecuadorian state’s support and investment in oil palm plantation expansion—designed to meet biofuel crop demands—in the coastal rainforest regions results in the rearrangement, and often times, devastation of Indigenous Awá and Chachi and Afro-ecuadorian communities’ natural and human geographies. It also inquires into the Ecuadorian government’s recently approved (October 2008) state level conservation incentives project called Socio-Bosque (Forest Partners) developed to do the following: protect the rainforests and its ecological services, alleviate poverty in rural areas, and position the country as an ‘environmental world leader’ for taking concrete actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from avoided deforestation. Socio Bosque claims to be progressive and even revolutionary, but may enact new forms of exploitation and governance in Indigenous and Afro-ecuadorian territories that are specific to time and place, but are enduringly colonial. Nevertheless, this research also highlights geographies of hope by demonstrating that, contrary to the surrounding sea of monoculture oil palm plantations and the CO2lonial air of contradictory laws in relation to biofuel and ecological services development, Awá, Chachi, and Afro-ecuadorian communities maintain sustainable practices and enhance agricultural diversity within their territories. Additionally, it emphasizes the emergent place-based social movements in relation to defense of their territories and identities; Indigenous and Afro-ecuadorian communities avoid conflict pressures by creating interethnic networks. By casting social nets between their territories, their communities stay connected and, together, defend their rights to territorial self-determination and “Living Well” and the rights of Nature.

Los Andes ecuatorianos, ubicados en el noroeste de América del Sur son considerados un “hot-spot” con una alta diversidad mundial de plantas vasculares, debido a su compleja topografía (elevación de la cordillera), variaciones de las condiciones climáticas y los distintos tipos de vegetación. A pesar de su elevado nivel de biodiversidad, los Andes ecuatorianos presentan uno de los paisajes más amenazados y poco estudiados. Especialmente los ecosistemas de páramo y montaña están sujetos a sobrepastoreo, quemas, cultivos y la deforestación causada por la expansión de la actividad humana en las últimas décadas. El conocimiento sobre paleoecología y la dinámica del paisaje es clave para entender los procesos del pasado que tuvieron un papel importante en el desarrollo de los ecosistemas y los paisajes ecuatorianos actuales. Sin embargo sólo un número limitado de estudios paleoecológicos de los Andes ecuatorianos están disponibles. En esta tesis se presentan análisis palinológicos que se llevaron a cabo en tres sitios diferentes en la región centro y sur de los Andes de Ecuador, con el fin de comprender mejor los últimos cambios en la vegetación, el clima y la dinámica del fuego; así como el impacto humano desde finales del Pleistoceno. El análisis del núcleo de sedimento El Cristal, ubicado en la ladera oriental de la cordillera Oriental en el Bosque Protector Corazón de Oro en el sureste del Ecuador, revela cambios en la distribución de la vegetación, el clima, el régimen de incendios y el impacto humano desde finales del Pleistoceno. Durante el Pleistoceno tardío el bosque montano fue el principal tipo de vegetación. Especialmente, hay evidencia de bosque de Polylepis lo que no ocurre en la actualidad. Sin embargo pruebas de proporciones relativamente altas de páramo sugiere que un bosque montano abierto ocupó la región. Por otro lado la presencia de taxones de páramo durante el Pleistoceno tardío, propone que la línea superior del bosque se encontraba a una altura inferior. Así mismo, la transición del Pleistoceno tardío al Holoceno temprano y medio se caracteriza por la presencia de bosque montano y una proporción estable de la vegetación de páramo. Sin embargo, después de aproximadamente 4000 cal yr BP, el bosque de Polylepis disminuyó, probablemente debido a un aumento en la frecuencia de incendios. Durante el Holoceno medio y tardío la composición de la vegetación cambió, el bosque montano fue menos frecuente y la vegetación de páramo se expandió. Altas proporciones de Asteraceae y Muehlenbeckia/Rumex (desde ca. 1380 cal yr BP) reflejan alteraciones del paisaje, probablemente por el impacto humano. Además, se registraron incendios durante todo el Pleistoceno tardío, pero fueron más frecuentes durante el Holoceno tardío, esto sugiere que eran de origen antropogénico. Por otro lado, El registro de polen Cajanuma valle, en la ladera occidental de la cordillera Oriental del Parque Nacional Podocarpus, sur de Ecuador, revela los cambios ambientales desde el último Glacial. Durante el último Glacial, páramo herbáceo principalmente dominado por Poaceae, Cyperaceae y Gentianaceae cubrió la zona. La línea superior del bosque se localizó a una altura más baja que la actual. El Holoceno temprano y medio se caracterizó por una sustitución parcial de páramo por bosque montano (Symplocos), el cual cambió su posición a elevaciones más altas donde está actualmente. Durante el Holoceno medio y tardío hay evidencia de un cambio de la vegetación, el páramo se re-expande con el predominio de Poaceae y alta presencia de Huperzia y Cyatheaceae. Durante el Holoceno tardío el páramo fue el principal tipo de vegetación que cubrió la zona. Los incendios se hicieron frecuentes desde el Holoceno tardío. Finalmente, el récord de polen Anteojos valle, que se encuentra en la ladera occidental del Parque Nacional Llanganates, en los Andes ecuatorianos centrales, presenta una reconstrucción ambiental detallada de aproximadamente los últimos 4100 años. La vegetación de páramo tuvo una ocurrencia dominante y estable en el área de estudio (Poaceae, Cyperaceae y Asteraceae); especialmente entre ca. 4100 - 3100 cal yr BP. Entre ca. 3100 - 2100 cal yr BP hubo una disminución de la vegetación de páramo seguido de una ligera expansión del bosque montano (Moraceae/Urticaceae, Trema, Celtis y Macrocarpaea). Desde ca. 2100 cal yr BP hasta la actualidad, la vegetación de páramo una vez más se hizo frecuente con una incidencia estable de los taxones del bosque montano. Se evidenció una baja frecuencia de incendios a lo largo del núcleo de sedimento; sin embargo, es evidente un ligero aumento entre ca. 4100 - 3100 años cal BP.