How do the Páramos store water? The role of plants and people.
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Civil & Environmental Engineering
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
Publications
Correa A
(2020)
A concerted research effort to advance the hydrological understanding of tropical páramos
in Hydrological Processes
| Description | Key Objective: Establish and quantify how species- and habitat-diversity and management affect catchment-scale capture and release of water from wetland systems within the Páramos. • A key achievement is the completion of several extensive field campaigns at 12 micro-catchments in the Guantiva LaRusia Páramo complex (Boyaca, Colombia). Drone surveys, soil samples and botanical surveys (145 plots in total) were completed across the catchments, and the majority of the data have been processed and analysed for use in the models (linked OPRAS-TopModel). • Climate and stream flow data collection is still ongoing and instrument maintenance and future data collection will continue by our local collaborator (National University of Colombia) as part of the iMHEA network (a regional initiative for hydrological monitoring). • Another key achievement is the spatial radar-based analysis of the páramo hydro-physical functioning by observing surface motion over time. The work delivered a map for Guantiva LaRusia Páramo complex (1269.34 km²) showing for the first time and in great detail which areas release or store water after precipitation. • A novel soil biogeochemical model (OPRAS) was developed and integrated with the existing landscape hydrology model (TopModel). Parameterisation and validation with field data is ongoing. Once parameterised, it will be possible to use the integrated model (OPRAS -TopModel) to predict the impact of landuse and climate change on the paramo's hydrology and downstream water yield. ODA relevance: The combined data and model development delivered by the project form the basis for generating new insights into the functioning of Páramos. The data also provide an evidence basis for the development of sustainable approaches to Páramo land management, ensuring a continued provision of water and so food and value added employment for many in Colombia (and also Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru) 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 | Hydrological knowledge produced in this project has been adopted by local and regional policy-makers to improve management and protection of paramo ecosystems. |
| Sectors | Environment |
| Description | Results have been communicated to regional water resources planners through the iMHEA participatory monitoring network general assembly in Lima, 2023. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Environment |