Abstract

SALTOS FERNANDEZ, Nancy Beatriz  and  FLORES DE LA TORRE, José Luis. Analysis of natural resources and peasant practices in high altitude ecosystems. Case study: Cochapata community in Urcuquí-Ecuador. Siembra [online]. 2024, vol.11, n.1, 4486. ISSN 2477-8850.  https://doi.org/10.29166/siembra.v11i1.4486.

The objective of this work was to analyze the relationship between perceptions and agricultural practices in the face of the effects of climate change from the agro-socio-economic context and the hydrological structure in the Cochapata high-altitude ecosystem in Urcuquí-Ecuador. The methodological strategy responds to the qualitative paradigm, case study method. Primary information was collected through landscape reading, interviews, and participant observation. It was found that the territory is occupied by timber industries, whose tree species are characterized by excessive water demand. The sub-paramo is inhabited by peasants in survival conditions who use the land to obtain goods for family sustenance using their labor force. Water distribution is of a hydro-social nature, as it excludes peasants from the right to irrigation and watering. Regarding the effects of the changing climate, the inhabitants perceive heat waves and variations in the rainy season in their daily lives; however, no agricultural practices were found to adapt to the climatic phenomenon. It is concluded that the vulnerability of the ecosystem is not directly related to climate change; it responds to historical failures in the distribution of ecosystem goods such as land and water, to the lack of knowledge of the peasant subject on the part of the state and society, and the excessive extractivism implemented during the last decades.

Keywords : high altitude ecosystem; agricultural practices; climate change; survival; natural resources.

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