PUBLICACIONES
Territorial perspectives on water scarcity: a standardized participatory mapping framework in Colombian rural geographies
This study examines the challenges of standardizing participatory mapping methods across culturally diverse water-scarce communities in Colombia. While the framework effectively captures local spatial knowledge, tensions emerge between maintaining cultural sensitivity and ensuring analytical comparability. The research reveals key difficulties in translating (non)indigenous spatial meanings into a commodity and market economy, highlighting the complex relationship between traditional ecological knowledge and formal water management systems. The findings inform theoretical debates about standardized research? protocols in cross-cultural geographical research and their environmental policy implications for water governance in rural communities.
Keywords: participatory mapping, water scarcity, groundwater, rural communities, climate change, Colombia, Wayuu people.
Supporting Indigenous Climate Adaptation: FAO’s Impact on Regenerative Agriculture and Water Governance Practices in Colombian Caribbean Communities
Accelerating climate change and biodiversity loss requires radical, systemic change—especially in peripheral regions of the Global South where food and water insecurity are acute. While “regenerative” community transformations are increasingly cited as pathways to resilience, how such innovations emerge, evolve, and scale in indigenous contexts remains largely undocumented. This paper examines the role of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in enabling regenerative agriculture and water governance among Wayúu communities on Colombia’s Caribbean coast. Building on long-standing Indigenous practices—communal wells, community gardens, organic production—we investigate how FAO’s scientific and engineering inputs interface with place-based knowledge under intensifying drought, falling rainfall, and rising evaporation. Using comparative evidence from four communities in La Guajira (two with FAO support, two without), we assess differences in crop diversity, cultivated area, and drought resilience. Data derive from a scoping visit (March 2024) and fieldwork (August 2024) combining surveys, in-depth interviews, and participant observation. Framing regenerative agriculture as both process and outcomes, we analyze how external support reshapes knowledge networks, governance arrangements, and ecosystem services. La Guajira’s extreme aridity offers a sentinel case for future conditions elsewhere; our findings contribute empirical insight into the co-production of regenerative innovations and inform scalable models for water security and food sovereignty in indigenous communities.
Keywords: aquifers, stygofauna, rural communities, climate change, qualitative interviews and surveys, Sucre - Colombia,
Assessing groundwater biodiversity: unknown ecosystem services with the potential to reflect the impact of different agricultural practices in water-scarce areas
Aquifers sustain drinking water supplies, agriculture, industry, and diverse groundwater‐dependent biota, yet their biodiversity and ecosystem services remain poorly documented, particularly in dry tropical regions. This study assesses groundwater biodiversity (stygofauna) in the Morroa aquifer (Sucre, northern Colombia) to evaluate how land use and water quality relate to community composition and function. We sampled 28 wells and piezometers (Oct–Nov 2024), combining traditional net collections with environmental DNA (eDNA) metabarcoding (COI and 16S markers) to build the first regional genomic reference for stygofauna. Field protocols included on-site measurements (pH 6–8.7, conductivity 391–1320 µS cm⁻¹, dissolved oxygen 2.9–7.75 mg L⁻¹) and standardized filtering/ethanol preservation; sequencing libraries were prepared with dual-indexed amplicons and Illumina paired-end runs, followed by quality filtering, OTU delineation, and taxonomic assignment against public databases. We will integrate eDNA read abundances and morphological records to test relationships between assemblages and local land use (agricultural vs. residential) using joint species distribution models (Hmsc) and ordination (PCA). Preliminary inventories include nematodes, mites, insects (e.g., Coleoptera, Diptera), and other invertebrates, indicating detectable variation among sites and land-use contexts. By coupling eDNA with conventional sampling, this work (i) delivers a baseline of groundwater biodiversity for a water-scarce Colombian aquifer, (ii) proposes stygofaunal metrics as indicators of ecosystem integrity under agricultural pressures, and (iii) provides a practical framework for monitoring aquifer health where access is difficult and taxonomic resources are limited. Findings aim to inform groundwater governance and conservation in data-poor, drought-prone landscapes.
Keywords: aquifers, stygofauna, environmental DNA, rural communities, climate change, Sucre - Colombia,
The Water and Coffee Paradox: Rethinking Environmental and Agrarian Change under Drought in Colombia, 1970–1997
This study situates water at the intersection of agrarian expansion, institutional development, and environmental transformation in Colombia. By focusing on the coffee sector, it builds on the centrality of export-oriented agriculture in shaping territorial, infrastructural, and institutional trajectories (Ocampo & Romero Baquero, 2024; Palacios, 1980). Coffee has long been understood not only as an economic driver but also as a catalyst for the formation of a national identity and a tool of rural integration. However, less attention has been given to the material conditions that sustained this expansion, particularly the role of water as both an economic and environmental asset with socio-political implications. This paper conceptualizes water not as a passive element to agricultural growth, but as an asset whose availability (or lack thereof), control, and meaning are shaped through conflict, negotiation, and institutional design (Boelens, 2014; Swyngedouw, 2009).
Within this framework, water emerges as a lens through which to examine how economic sectors mobilize state capacity and scientific authority to sustain growth under environmental constraints. Historical episodes of drought, particularly those linked to El Niño events during the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s (Figure 1), exposed the limits of Colombia’s rural water infrastructure and forced coffee producers to adapt their practices. Yet these adaptations were not only technical; they were political and institutional, revealing how water governance is formed and shaped by broader questions of rural inequality, territorial development, and ecological risk.
Keywords: droughts, coffee frontier, governance, adaptations, historical narrative, Colombia
Anthropocene Signatures in Caribbean Colombia’s Dry Forests: A Landsat-Based Socio-Ecological History of Climate Vulnerability (1972-2025)
The change in Colombian Caribbean dry forests, vital ecosystems for rural economies and livelihoods, has remained largely unexplored in its historical dimension. These forests serve as cornerstones of local economies, providing essential resources through timber and non-timber forest products, supporting agricultural and pastoral practices via water regulation and soil protection, harboring unique biodiversity, offering alternative income through rural tourism and NTFP harvesting, and enhancing community climate resilience. This research fills a critical knowledge gap by analyzing half a century of socio-ecological transformations (1972-2024) in these vital ecosystems, leveraging the complete Landsat image time series – from MSS to OLI.
Exploiting the progressive enhancement of Landsat sensor capabilities, we reconstruct a detailed socio-ecological history of how forest dynamics have become intertwined with climate-sensitive regional economies. Our analysis reveals that forest cover decreases, quantified using multi-temporal spectral indices, correlates significantly with phases of economic intensification, particularly the expansion of agricultural frontiers and other land-use change drivers. Furthermore, we demonstrate how changes in the dry forest, detectable from satellite, serve as an early indicator of variations in water resource availability – crucial for subsistence agriculture and ecosystem-dependent rural communities.
These results offer novel perspectives on the complex interplay between historical economic drivers, environmental vulnerability, and water resource management in drought-prone Caribbean landscapes, providing essential insights for climate adaptation policies and sustainable land management.
Keywords: environmental history, dry forests, land use change, Landsat, time series analysis
How water quality can affect pregnancy outcomes in Colombia (2000-2015)
Colombia holds roughly 5% of the world’s freshwater, yet large inequalities in access to safe drinking water persist alongside uneven progress in neonatal survival. We examine how household water sources and environmental water quality relate to early neonatal mortality (ENM) and low birth weight (LBW), situating results within a “socio-ecological trap” framework. Linking Demographic and Health Surveys (2005, 2010, 2015) with national water-quality monitoring at the hydrographic subzone level, we analyze geographic disparities and multilevel variance. We ask whether drinking-water source affects birth outcomes; whether risks differ across unimproved sources; and how spatial variation in surface-water quality correlates with neonatal outcomes. We find that unimproved household water sources are associated with a 22% higher risk of ENM relative to improved sources, with unprotected wells posing greater risk than surface water. No significant association emerges between drinking-water source and LBW. Spatial mapping reveals marked heterogeneity in ENM and LBW across watersheds. Multilevel models indicate that ~30% of ENM variance and ~44% of LBW variance lie at the DHS-cluster level, underscoring the importance of local conditions beyond regional averages. These findings suggest that reducing preventable neonatal deaths in Colombia requires coupling clinical interventions with universal access to safe water and targeted strategies to break socio-ecological traps—where abundant water coexists with unsafe access, fragile infrastructure, and weak surveillance.
Keywords: drinking water quality, early neonatal mortality, low birth weight, socio-ecological traps, Colombia.
Alternatives Pathways towards Ancestral Water Governance in the Colombian Caribbean: “Pacto por la Yanama” – Intercultural dialogue for sustainable and human development
The Colombian Caribbean, especially La Guajira, faces critical climate challenges such as extreme heat, droughts, and water scarcity, which affect water, social, health, and food security. The Wayúu people experience these conditions amid socioeconomic inequalities, lack of resources, health risks, and restricted mobility. The book emphasizes that the Wayúu territory transcends geography: it is body, memory, and spirituality. The Guajira Ecoregion is sustained by its own sociopolitical and cultural system, where water is conceived as a common, spiritual, and collective good. However, this recognition has come late, and intercultural dialogue has been marked by the supremacy of scientific and technocratic perspectives. The work proposes creating a meeting space that balances different forms of knowledge and recognizes water as a shared source of life.
Productos del proyecto
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Datos recolectados de los sitios de estudio de caso
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Mapas sociales
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Aplicación para monitoreo del agua
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Material educativo
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Informes de talleres
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Modelos de cooperación
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Modelos de impacto en políticas
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Plan de comunicación, incluyendo videos y podcasts