On May 27, during the LASA Conference held in Paris, Kimberly Montañez Medina presented the first article derived from her doctoral dissertation, co-authored with Montserrat López Jerez and Andrés Palacio, principal investigator of the SURCO project. The study examines water as a common good, moving beyond its conventional understanding as merely a productive input, and explores its role in Colombian coffee production during periods of drought in the last quarter of the twent

What does sustainability look like when viewed through different disciplinary lenses? This semester, students in the Global Sustainability course within the Bachelor Programme in Economy and Society at Lund University had the opportunity to engage with researchers and practitioners working at the forefront of sustainability challenges. Through a series of guest lectures, students explored issues ranging from local development and water governance to environmental justice, oce

The SURCO project has recently completed an important phase of fieldwork in La Guajira, Colombia, where researchers conducted a series of economic experiments with Wayuu communities to better understand decision-making around water allocation under conditions of scarcity. Water scarcity remains one of the most pressing challenges facing the region, making La Guajira a particularly important context for studying how communities cooperate, negotiate, and make collective decisio

On January 22 and 23, the SURCO project team, in collaboration with Professor César Mantilla , conducted a pilot of economic experiments with Wayúu communities in the surroundings of Manaure (La Guajira) . These experiments aim to explore the motivations, beliefs, and collective decision-making processes that influence the selection of norms for water distribution during periods of extreme scarcity. Through participatory methodologies and experimental economics tools, the p

On November 7th, Andrés Palacio, principal investigator of the Surco project, met with Leidys Murillo, professor at the University of Sucre and head of the biodiversity component of the project, to discuss progress in the study of stygofauna as a bioindicator of aquifer health and of the structure of the tropical dry forest in the Montes de María during the first decade of the 21st century. The first study uses environmental DNA, and the second uses satellite images of vegeta

The experimental economics course taught by Professor César Mantilla from Javeriana University took place at the UniGuajira facilities under the auspices of Lund University (Sweden) and FORMAS on November 6 and 7, 2025.

Today we welcomed Professor Eschenhagen María Luisa , an expert in environmental education, to Quibdó (Chocó) . She launched the...

Part 1: 8.30 - 9.05 Björn Brey (University of Oxford, Norwegian School of Economics) Jacob Weisdorf (Sapienza University of Rome, CAGE,...

Our principal investigator, Andrés Palacio, met with Santiago Jaramillo, Juan Carlos García, and Ninibeth Sarmiento at the Cenicafé...

Today we had the privilege of visiting Paraíso de Bambú y Guadua, an inspiring farm and living laboratory dedicated to the cultivation...

Today at Lund University, LUSEM and LUCSUS, welcomed Colombian professor Martha Isabel Gómez Lee from FIGRI-UniExternado de Colombia, for...

In the face of climate change and ecosystems degradation globally, human rights law and international solidarity have key role to play in...

We’re still excited to have welcomed Montserrat Lopez Jerez (University of St Andrews) to the Development Research Seminars at Lund...

On the 7th of April, we welcomed PhD student Kimberly Montanez during the lecture on "Geography for Sustainability" in our BSc Economy...

We just wrapped up the SURCO workshop, funded by FORMAS, on Climate Change, Water Scarcity & Biodiversity: How Rural Communities Choose...

Between November 2024 and January 2025, we conducted the second round of fieldwork in collaboration with the Universities of La Guajira and Sucre, the regional environmental authority CARSUCRE, and an independent environmental DNA (eDNA) expert based in Sweden. During this period, environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling campaigns were carried out across 28 groundwater sites in the department of Sucre, Colombia, generating a unique dataset on groundwater biodiversity and ecosystem h

Andrés Palacio participated as a main panelist in the webinar: “Impact Metrics and Open Repositories: Keys to Collaborative and...

At the recent FORMAS conference on oceans and water, I presented research on the critical role of groundwater reserves in supporting...

We are excited to announce the first set of speakers for our upcoming seminar series at Lund University, focusing on Climate Change,...

Call for papers WEHC Session - CfP: “Collective action in local common-pool resources: water crises from a global economic history...

The water unit at the Stockholm Environmental Institute, composed of Tania Santos, Sebastian Palomino, Camilo Sanabria, and David Zamora,...

We visited CARSUCRE, the local environmental authority in Sucre. We had a long conversation with Gustavo Perez, the person in charge of...

The Surco team interviewed Dr. Samuel Lanao Robles, director of Corpoguajira. We had a thorough conversation about water needs in la...

The course "Comprehensive Introduction to QGIS: FORMAS Project" was concluded between August 5th and 8th at the facilities of the...

Today, we had an insightful discussion with Professor Daiver Pinto from Universidad de La Guajira . Together with Cristina Chaminade...

We're excited to announce the start of our fieldwork in Colombia aimed at enhancing the sustainable development of rural and dispersed...

We invite submissions for the upcoming seminar series on Climate Change, Environment, and Water, taking place at Lund University. If you...

We are happy to inform you that our session on water crises was accepted for the World Economic History Congress in Lund in july 2025....

Montserrat Lopez and Andrés Palacio had the pleasure to join a diverse group of researchers working on sustainable water development. The...

Associate professor Macchi has accepted our invitation to join the team and produce the protocols, the material and do the lecturing to...

After many phone calls and contacts, Leidys Murillo and John Asprilla could produce some evidence of the existence of the piezometer. The...

"I have just returned from a field trip to Colombia, in the framework of a project on the nexus of water-biodiversity-climate change. We...

"In order to advance studies that allow for an understanding of how different actors cooperate in the management and use of water and how...

At the Externado de Colombia, our team member, Prof. Cristina Chaminade, took part in a panel about public leadership for sustainable...

At the Humboldt institute, we met Natalia Flórez, sub-director of Bioeconomy. She laid out the Institute´s whole agenda. We plan to share...

At the Institute of Hidrology, Meteorology and Environmental Studies (IDEAM in Spanish), Fabio Bernal, sub-director of...

Andrés Palacio, Associate professor in Economic History at LUSEM, recently got funded by Formas