La Reserva de la Biósfera Cinturón Andino, Colombia. ¿Una región modelo de estrategias de adaptación al cambio climático y el desarrollo regional sustentable?

Abstract

The Río Las Piedras basin in the Biosphere Reserve Cinturón Andino (Colombia) serves as a laboratory for initiatives directed towards sustainable agricultural techniques adapted to climate change conditions. Building on an improved social capital, the strategies applied aim at the improvement of the livelihood of the rural population and at the conservation of biodiversity and other ecosystem services. The present paper identifies the indicators of climate change experienced by the local population and tries to evaluate the success of the strategies applied in order to assess the applicability of such strategies to other mountain areas. The results indicate that the strategies applied are largely successful in ensuring the agricultural production and the ecosystem services also under changing climatic conditions. However, further improvement of the livelihood and social security are impeded by limited financial resources