From the 9th to the 12th of November, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, Peru held the 4th International Congress on Local Development  which was called for by Universidades Iberoamericanas La Rábida and Universidad de Huelva (Spain).

UPS professors Pablo Ortiz T., Víctor Hugo Torres and Narcisa Requelme were speakers at the conference. Professor Torres presented the results of his research titled "Local development in Ecuador: advances and setbacks"; professor Ortiz presented the topic: "Colonialidad del espacio y autogestión territorial: la lucha de los Kichwa de Pastaza en la Amazonía Central de Ecuador 1980-2010" and professor Requelme spoke about agriculture for Sumak Kawsay in Andean communities.

The main topic of the conference was territorial planning, sustainable development and geodiversity; experts and researches from Brazil, Spain, Argentina, Mexico, Chile, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Uruguay and Ecuador attended the congress.

The congress was held in a global context characterized by structural problems of poverty, unemployment, environmental deterioration and distrust of political doctrines, which have deepened crisis situations, threatening various achievements in food security, health and education. 

In this context, the proper management of local areas, such as places where citizens meet their needs, can be a significant advance in strategies to improve the quality of life
Similar events were held in Machala, Ecuador (2007); Mendoza, Argentina (2010); and Havana, Cuba (2013). According to Juan Antonio Márquez, executive director of the IV Congress and representative of Universidad de Huelva, "this IV International Congress on Local Development has been oriented to the exchange of experiences among professors, planners, politicians, specialists and managers of local development, with innovative and trans disciplinary approaches to understand geodiversity and learn from successful experiences of local development". "Promoting the debate on these issues opens the possibilities of piloting and empowering community development within a global world," said Márquez.

The agenda was marked by three keynote presentations on governance and local management; Territorial planning and local productive systems, which preceded twelve workshops whose topics were globalization, neoliberal policies and territorial development; Reduction of gender inequality, inclusion, poverty, races and indigenous people; Governments, municipalities, commonwealth and agencies of local development; Management, decentralization and local development; Tourism and local development; Social economy, local cooperativism, industry and local development: synergies and business cluster, among others.  

These and the other papers will be available in a book compiled and edited jointly by the School of Geography of the National University of San Marcos and the Institute of Local Development of the University of Huelva.