How do the Paramos store water? The role of plants and people

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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).