Principales indicadores de sostenibilidad en la medición de externalidades del sector bananero en el ecuador en los períodos 2016-2021

Abstract

Banana production in Ecuador is very important since it contributes in part to economic dynamism through the generation of jobs and the distribution of the fruit for internal consumption. But throughout the production chain, pollutants and social problems are generated that affect people, biodiversity and the environment in general. These problems are known as negative externalities from production that cause damage to third parties that sometimes have no relation to the agricultural sector. That is why these externalities were analyzed through the two main sustainability indicators that are the carbon footprint and the water footprint, which allowed us to determine that when producing a kilogram of bananas, 0.49 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2), being an environmental and social problem since the communities that are close to the farms are the most affected. Similarly, it was determined that Ecuador shows a water footprint of 576m3 per ton, of which, according to evaluations based on the WFN, 48% was green water, 43% blue water, and 18% gray water. Therefore, environmentally friendly production processes must be generated to control or reduce the creation of negative externalities that affect society, resources and environmental sustainability.