this study investigates the socioeconomic and environmental transformations caused by the recovery and transformation of the forest in a rural community in ecuador. it attempts to determine if these transformations have improved the quality of life in this community. yunguilla is located in the province of pichincha where there are problems of large-scale mining, massive tourism and deforestation, but its inhabitants, despite having lived through heavy logging processes, have changed their extractive activities for conservation and sustainable economic activities. to carry out this analysis we considered the historical aspects, local development, economy, environment and the impact of covid 19, using the theory of complex adaptive systems, which allows us to analyze the linkage and the dependence and interdependence of the actors, as well as to identify the hierarchical levels of the system and to have a better understanding of the community dynamics and its different adaptive cycles. analytical, synthetic, measurement and comparison methods were used, as well as a multi-temporal analysis of vegetation cover, interviews and semi-structured surveys, using the "snowball" technique. the main results show that the conservation and natural resource management processes based on community governance have been effective. in addition, it shows how the recovery of the forest for more than 25 years has allowed environmental sustainability, fostered community tourism and the creation of social microenterprises as an economic alternative. these initiatives were supported by national and international organizations through cooperation projects, but with the approval of the general assembly. when the pandemic arrived, it generated a strong impact that destabilized the community, but showing resilience, its inhabitants carried out actions to recover, showing an optimistic attitude and believing in a promising future, due to the management and decision making that prioritizes a global approach and social consensus, always prevailing the collective and sustainable approach that improves their living conditions, prioritizing the "good living"1 . thus, yunguilla has exemplified that small actions can be the beginning of positive impacts on a larger scale.