How do the Paramos store water? The role of plants and people
Lead Research Organisation:
Loughborough University
Department Name: Creative Arts
Abstract
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Planned Impact
Our project's high level goal is to safeguard the sustainable use of the Northern Andean Páramos and so ultimately improve the livelihoods and wellbeing of people living in Colombia and other Andean countries. The proposed research, which aims to substantially enhance current understanding of the Páramos' socio-ecological system, forms a core step towards this goal. The project aims to achieve measurable impact in terms of real changes in people's knowledge, skills and behaviours associated to the Páramos.
Stakeholder groups which we have identified and targeted are:
1.The Páramo Guantiva-la Rusia local farming communities, who rely on the Páramo for their livelihood, will benefit from this project by learning more about their role and impact on the functioning of the Páramo, information which could help support their decision making.
2. The Páramo Guantiva-la Rusia local decision makers, who have a direct impact on the local economy and sustainable use of the Páramo, will benefit by learning about the role of plants and people in the functioning of the Páramo. They will also benefit from the land cover and Páramo status maps and the Páramo valuation the project will produce which will help them in their decision making.
3. Colombian early career scientists and students and who are seeking opportunities for exchanges in expertise within Colombia and between Colombia and UK through collaborations and training. Through the field work bursaries we will be providing opportunities for Colombian early career scientist and students to join the project's activities and so expose them to the expertise of UK and Colombian senior scientists. They will also gain skills and knowledge through informal and formal training that will occur during the planned field campaign and workshops. The four months research visits to the UK offered to 2 Colombian early career scientists will further enhance the exchange of expertise and skills and facilitate international networking.
4. The Colombian community of practitioners and researchers who are interested in Drone technology and are keen to exchange drone experiences through an informal national drone network. This community will benefit from sharing with the UK experiences and from evaluating the collected drone imagery collected by the project.
The project will also be relevant to a variety of other stakeholder groups who will be: for example, national and international NGOs who are concerned with the preservation of the Páramo, or who are interested in the welfare of the local communities; regional and national decision makers and policy makers who are concerned with the sustainable use of the Páramo within the context of the national green economy agenda; private companies for whom the Páramo is a resource of genetic diversity, water or minerals; and the general public (Colombian and UK).
Stakeholder groups which we have identified and targeted are:
1.The Páramo Guantiva-la Rusia local farming communities, who rely on the Páramo for their livelihood, will benefit from this project by learning more about their role and impact on the functioning of the Páramo, information which could help support their decision making.
2. The Páramo Guantiva-la Rusia local decision makers, who have a direct impact on the local economy and sustainable use of the Páramo, will benefit by learning about the role of plants and people in the functioning of the Páramo. They will also benefit from the land cover and Páramo status maps and the Páramo valuation the project will produce which will help them in their decision making.
3. Colombian early career scientists and students and who are seeking opportunities for exchanges in expertise within Colombia and between Colombia and UK through collaborations and training. Through the field work bursaries we will be providing opportunities for Colombian early career scientist and students to join the project's activities and so expose them to the expertise of UK and Colombian senior scientists. They will also gain skills and knowledge through informal and formal training that will occur during the planned field campaign and workshops. The four months research visits to the UK offered to 2 Colombian early career scientists will further enhance the exchange of expertise and skills and facilitate international networking.
4. The Colombian community of practitioners and researchers who are interested in Drone technology and are keen to exchange drone experiences through an informal national drone network. This community will benefit from sharing with the UK experiences and from evaluating the collected drone imagery collected by the project.
The project will also be relevant to a variety of other stakeholder groups who will be: for example, national and international NGOs who are concerned with the preservation of the Páramo, or who are interested in the welfare of the local communities; regional and national decision makers and policy makers who are concerned with the sustainable use of the Páramo within the context of the national green economy agenda; private companies for whom the Páramo is a resource of genetic diversity, water or minerals; and the general public (Colombian and UK).
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
Michael Wilson (Principal Investigator) |
Title | PARAGUAS - Collection of digital stories |
Description | A collection of approximately 150 digital stories, created by local residents, with the support of project members and researchers, about their lives of living, working and visiting the paramo and , in particular their knowledge and thoughts concerning water management issues. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2020 |
Impact | Too early to say, but stories are being shared by the storytellers and raising awareness of our work amongst other organisations and local actors. |
Description | Key Objective: Understand the impact of humans on Páramos' functioning by establishing an informed knowledge of current land uses and water management practices. • The project's key finding was that, within the Páramo context, top down approaches to water and ecosystem governance continue to feed a culture of distrust between communities and government. This, in turn, is impacting conservation and development efforts. ODA relevance: The project's social insights will help individuals and organizations take appropriate action when developing sustainable management strategies in Colombia. Key objective: Achieve impact through storytelling, participatory workshops and student bursaries. • A key legacy of the project is a digital memory bank of the Paramo (https://vimeo.com/user107458608), which is sharing with the public a growing (> 100) number of stories created by local people. Our train the trainer approach has initiated a growing local capacity of story collectors who will continue to add stories to this memory bank. • Project field bursaries have supported 6 undergraduate students in their studies. ODA relevance: feeding back to the local communities people's understanding of Páramos-human relationships and Páramos-usage dilemmas will hopefully facilitate dialogue and promote the development and adoption of sustainable páramo and water preservation methods. |
Exploitation Route | It is our hope that this research leads to policy-making that takes into account the social and cultural values that humans attach to landscapes and the natural environment, alongside the biophysical data . |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Communities and Social Services/Policy Creative Economy Education Environment Leisure Activities including Sports Recreation and Tourism Culture Heritage Museums and Collections |
Description | Whilst it is too early to start identifying specific impacts from the project, which will become evident once the library of stories from the project is complete and made searchable online, there is growing evidence of an increased interest in the application of storytelling for public engagement and the harnessing of lay knowledge in relation to wider issues of environmental sustainability, related to PARAGUAS and other environment-related projects in this portfolio. Collectively these projects are starting to create a substantial body of work and critical mass, which is gaining international traction. This is evidenced, for example, by Professor Wilson's invitations to speak at a panel on storytelling at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik in October 2023, to speak at the Kolkota International Book Fair and the Global Science Fair Kerala in January 2024, to join Swedish colleagues on the MISTRA programme for environmental and sustainability education in March 2024, and to apply for a UNESCO Chair in Storytelling for Sustainability in March 2024. If successful this latter initiative will lead to a programme of further impactful initiatives with multiple diverse international partners. The work from this project is referenced in all this work. |
First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Education,Environment,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | Branching Out: New Routes to Valuing Urban Treescapes |
Amount | £583,259 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/V021176/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2021 |
End | 07/2024 |
Description | MISTRA |
Amount | 436,844 kr (SEK) |
Organisation | Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
Country | Sweden |
Start | 01/2023 |
End | 12/2023 |
Description | Made Smarter Network+ |
Amount | £4,885,886 (GBP) |
Funding ID | ES/W007231/1 |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2021 |
End | 12/2024 |
Description | PARAMO - Provisioning of ecosystem services And cultuRAl values in the MOntane tropics |
Amount | £233,669 (GBP) |
Funding ID | NE/R017417/1 |
Organisation | Natural Environment Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 07/2018 |
End | 07/2022 |
Description | 'Harnessing the potential of Storytelling in Sustainable Communication' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This was an online workshop, run with Dr Marcus Bussey from the University of the Sunshine Coast (Australia), as part of the MISTRA project, run by Swedish Centre for Research and Education on Learning for Sustainable Development at Uppsala University. The workshop was attended by participants from all over Sweden from a variety of backgrounds, including, researchers, businesses, policymakers and general public. This led to lively discussion and a new collaborative funding bid with SWEDESD. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | 'Storytelling and the Digital Revolution: How Technology Has Changed Our Narrative Selves And How It Has Not' - Public Lecture at Voronezh State University, Russia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a public lecture given online (due to COVID restrictions) through Voronezh State University and facilitated through the British Embassy in Moscow and the UK-Russia Cultural Bridge programme. In Voronezh there was a large audience of faculty and postgraduate students and elsewhere in Russia people joined from other universities and there was also a general public audience. The British Embassy provided simultaneous translation. There was a lively discussion afterwards and the talk was followed up the following week with a Diogital Storytelling workshop run by Dr Antonia Liguori (Loughborough) and Dr Philippa Rappoport (Smithsonian Institution). Voronezh University have proposed a future collaboration on a summer school and staff and student mobility. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | 'Storytelling with a Social Purpose, or how we are trying to change the world, one story at a time', Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | An invited lecture/talk to the Leicester Literary and Philosophical Society, delivered online, due to COVID restrictions. It led to a lively discussion and set of questions with positive feedback from the Society's Committee. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Connecting Through Storytelling In The Páramos |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The presentation took place as part of Encuentro Mundial Educar online conference and was made by Alma Solarte-Tobon and Angela Sharpe, Research Assistants at the Storytelling Academy at Loughborough University. It was conducted in Spanish to a broad online audience and was also available afterwards via YouTube. Around 50 people attended the presentation, plus additional numbers watched it online afterwards. It prompted a number of questions from the audience and a lively discussion. Presentation Abstract: Local communities are the guardians and bearers of their own cultural heritage & collective memory. In this session we will explore how connections were forged between scientific researchers and local communities through the use of digital storytelling. Also, looking forward to ensuring these digital stories are preserved for both the communities and researchers. The Storytelling Academy at Loughborough University is an interdisciplinary research team. Applied Storytelling has become our key research strength over the past five years. The work is invariably interdisciplinary, involving collaborations with the health, social and environmental sciences and both academic and non-academic partners, from local community organisations to large NGOs. We have worked throughout the UK, but also across Europe and countries across the world (Kenya, Uganda, India and Colombia). The focus of our presentation will be on our current work in Colombia on the research projects PARAMO and Paraguas. Both projects focus on research in the paramo region around Boyaca. Páramo are high-elevation grassland-peatland biomes of the tropical Andes. Unique, highly diverse, and important spiritual landscapes, they are found in Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru, covering a total area of 35,700km2. By collecting and sharing stories from the many Páramo actors, the projects hope to improve dialogue and mutual understanding and so help achieve "socio-natural resilience" and to help preserve and document local stories as part of a memory bank for all to share. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Digital Storytelling and Slow Storytelling |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a GREAT talk hosted by the British Council in India. I gave it to a public audience at the UK Pavillion at the International Kolkota Book Fair and also to a student/staff audience at Rabindra Bharati University, Kolkota. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | Digital Storytelling workshop on climate change organised with LU Arts |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Digital Stories produced as part of the PARAMO, PARAGUAS, DRY projects were used to trigger conversations around environmental issues while students learned how to make a digital story, developing their technical, creative and curatorial skills. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
URL | http://www.lborouniartsfestival.co.uk/digital-storytelling-climate-change/ |
Description | GROW Colombia DS training in Bogota |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Journalists, policy makers and students were trained to apply digital storytelling in their field. Digital Stories produced during the PARAMO, PARAGUAS, DRY projects were used to talk about the methodology and address local and global environmental issues. The event was organised in collaboration with the Earlham Institute with the support of the British embassy in Colombia. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | GROW Colombia Retreat in Norwich - 30 April-1May2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Team member Antonia Liguori presented on behalf of the Storytelling Academy the DS approach applied as part of the two research projects in Colombia (PARAGUAS and PARAMO). Around 30 international stakeholders involved in projects in Colombia had the opportunity to share ideas, expand their network and explore future potential collaborations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Presentation at the MeCCSA Conference 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Project team member Antonia Liguori gave a paper on behalf of Mike Wilson, Lindsey McEwen and the DRY consortium. The presentation was about 'Co-designing an online Utility Tool to bridge science and community knowledge through storytelling', but included an overview on a variety of storytelling approaches applied in 3 main projects addressing environmental issues (PARAMO, PARAGUAS, DRY). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | http://www.meccsabrighton2020.co.uk/ |
Description | Talking About the Weather and Other Stories: Storytelling As Creative Thinking About Climate Change |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This was a GREAT talk hosted by the British Council in India. I gave it to public audiences at the UK Pavillion at the International Kolkata Book Fair and at the Global Science Fair Kerala in Trivandrum. Also gave the talk to two large groups of students at the Modern High School for Girls in Kolkata and the Government College for Women in Trivandrum. There were many questions after the talks and there are plans for further workshop activity with the British Council for next year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2024 |
Description | The Power of Storytelling for Voicing Arctic Issues to the Public |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | Invited member of a panel at the Arctic Circle Assembly in Reykjavik in November 2023. The panel was titled 'Hearing the Arctic's Call: The Time to Act as One' and consisted of an international group of scholars from Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and the UK. The Arctic Circle Assembly is a major annual intergovernmental congress with a global audience of policymakers, academics, activist organisations and NGOs. There was a wide interest in storytelling at the Assembly and the talk resulted in lots of questions and post-panel discussions and new contacts. It is likely that a follow-up panel will convene at the 2024 Assembly. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2023 |