Climate Governance and Sustainable Development: A Sight to the Intermediate and Border Cities of Ecuador

Although urban areas in Latin America are not major GHG emitters, they play crucial, little-studied roles in the field of climate change. In Ecuador, there are 21 intermediate cities, which include at least 7 border cities. Intermediate cities are key to achieving sustainable urban development, merged with rural networks and environmental systems. The present work aims to conduct a sociodemographic characterization of intermediate and border cities of Ecuador and to develop a mapping of climate change actors. Three intermediate and border cities (Esmeraldas, Loja and Nueva Loja), belonging to the country’s regions: Coast, Highlands and Amazonian Lowland, respectively, were analyzed.