Des laves torrentielles naturelles, ou produites par les habitants ? L’histoire des expertises sur le risque à Quito (Equateur) à l’heure de l’Anthropocène

Abstract

The urban environment of Quito, Ecuador, is marked by hydro-morphoclimatic events characteristic of an equatorial high altitude environment. Since the 1970s, a series of expert reports have attributed the main responsibility for this to the inhabitants, who build themselves on the slopes, outside the legal framework. They are indirectly legitimated by new scientific approaches, which have been developing since the early 1990s in the Americas, and which insist more generally on the anthropogenic origin of the risks. Locally, however, some research has shown the natural origin of these phenomena. Although their existence is known to experts, their content is not exploited and remains unknown. At the time of the Anthropocene, this article deconstructs the representations and paradigms of a local epistemic community. It advocates for autonomous and radically interdisciplinary scientific studies integrating a historical, political and pragmatic approach to environmental issues.

Keywords

• urban environment
• risk
• natural hazard
• expertise
• geopolitics
• Quito