Abstract

FLOREZ YEPES, Gloria Yaneth; ALZATE ALVAREZ, Ángela María  and  RINCON SANTAMARIA, Alejandro. COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF GUIDELINES FOR THE USE AND CONSERVATION OF THE HIGH ANDEAN WETLANDS, A PILOT EXPERIENCE IN THE OCHO AND PÁRAMO DE LETRAS AREAS. Luna Azul [online]. 2014, n.38, pp.274-296. ISSN 1909-2474.

Community participation is a relevant aspect in decisions making concerning the implementation of actions related to protection of natural heritage. In the present work, the main purpose is the participative construction of the guidelines for the use and conservation of wetlands in El Ocho and Páramo de Letras. The methodology includes the following steps: 1) review of secondary information; 2) a participatory environmental zoning of the productive systems using the talking maps technique and the AutoCAD tool; and 3) floral and touristic potential analysis, on the basis of traditional knowledge, by means of interviews to the community, potential tourists and informal talks. The main result of this research indicates that the community has traditional knowledge of the benefits offered by the ecosystem resources, but they do not have the necessary tools to achieve a sustainable productive system. The study area has a great touristic potential, due to its advantages of landscape and infrastructure but the current use of the land is inadequate according to the environmental law. The main conclusion of the work is that it is necessary to formulate and implement strategies for use and conservation of High Andean Wetlands which are adequate for the ecosystem under study, as the current national and international strategies are too general.

Keywords : Use and conservation; floral and touristic potential; talking maps; participatory environmental zoning; ecosystemic services.

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