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Adaptive Capacity of Households to Degradation of Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in the Colombian Andes

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Abstract

The adaptive capacity (AC) of social systems to degradation of ecosystem services is defined as the response capacity of the system to a threat, such as changes in supply and delivery of ecosystem services (ES). In this paper, we propose an adaptive capacity composite indicator vis-a-vis the loss or degradation of ecosystem services that can be evaluated at household level in rural areas. For the estimation of the AC composite indicator, we evaluated 16 variables grouped into six categories that were previously validated with a group of experts in the area. The variables were evaluated in ten types of household profiles identified in relation with the services of water provision and erosion control in the Riogrande Basin in Colombia. The composite indicator is built both through experts’ focus groups to find weights of the variables and categories and principal component analysis. In both methods, variables such as institutional efficiency, distribution and availability of information, technology and innovation, as well as local ecological knowledge were the main determinants of AC of the households.

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Notes

  1. In accordance with DANE (2014) projections, the Metropolitan Area of Aburrá Valley has 3,731,447 inhabitants (http://www.metropol.gov.co/institucional/Paginas/queeselarea.aspx).

  2. Vereda is a term used in Colombia to define an administrative division of the territory within the municipalities. Usually, a vereda is located in rural areas although it can have micro urban centers.

  3. Thanks to the reviewer for pointing this lack of clarity out. The household types were established based on stage 1 of the fieldwork in which 55 people, representative of different stakeholders in the basin, took part. The recruitment for this stage was through the community leaders. In the workshops developed at this stage, we apply an individual survey in which we asked about socioeconomic individual characteristics and ESs they identified. This allowed us to preliminarily establish the household types. These household types were afterward validated and complemented with previous research in the basin, which had taken into account the socioeconomic and biophysical aspects at household level. An example of this is the research by Álvarez (2012) who interviewed with 230 households to establish a sustainability index of agricultural and cattle-farming practices. We also used the research by Dávila Betancurth (2016) who worked with 17 productive units in different landscapes in the basin (geomorphology, soils, and land cover vegetation) to understand the determining variables of biophysical and social vulnerability in the agroecosystems.

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Acknowledgements

We are thankful to researchers from TRASSE funded by ANR-17-CE32-0012 for valuable discussions and comments. The authors are thankful to the community of Riogrande basin for their participation in the research.

Funding

Funding from the project “Trayectorias de sistemas socio-ecológicos y sus determinantes en cuencas estratégicas en un contexto de cambio ambiental. Código 110180863961” Convocatoria 808-2018 Proyectos de ciencia, tecnología e innovación y su contribución a los retos de país-Colciencias.

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Correspondence to Clara Villegas-Palacio.

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Villegas-Palacio, C., Berrouet, L. & Marsiglia, S. Adaptive Capacity of Households to Degradation of Ecosystem Services: A Case Study in the Colombian Andes. Environmental Management 66, 162–179 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01305-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-020-01305-5

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