Evaluación del Ciclo de Vida Social y Ambiental en la Cadena Productiva de Quinua Chenopodium Quinoa en Ecuador

General objective Estimate the social and environmental impacts of the Quinoa cultivation phase in Ecuador, based on the analysis of the life cycle of inputs and outputs necessary for it. Justification In summary, the analysis of the social and environmental life cycle can be understood as a methodology to support decisions about the environmental and social impacts related to a productive chain, this within the productive and conservation vision "Cradle to Grave". ”. Including, potentially, the entire life cycle of the product or service under evaluation. Social life cycle assessment (LCA-S) has a more global perspective on the social impacts of products than other evaluation tools (e.g. Fair trade certificate, etc). This is a holistic evaluation that allows those responsible for making decisions to compare alternatives with respect to the one they want to take, through the most complete estimate of the social impacts of a product or service, compared to each other or with others to which it is intended. that replace In order to provide this comprehensive evaluation of the social impacts of a product, the LCA-S must include an evaluation of, at least, the most important parts of the product's life cycle. Currently, life cycle analyzes are used as a starting point for green label certifications in products and to improve the fair trade relationship. In the country there is a lack of this information for commodities of Andean origin, which is more than enough reason to conduct this study and generate data in this regard. Considering the production cycles of Andean crops and the amount of data required by the LCA, it is imperative to obtain information of at least 3 years. Which leads to continue with the project in 2018 in order to obtain the results proposed at the beginning.