The call of the condor: Community-based initiatives as ecosystem conservation in Colombia's páramos

Sammanfattning: The Colombian government aims to minimize the impacts of human activities in páramos. This requires finding balance between the conservation of the natural resources and maintaining the livelihoods of people living in these areas. Biodiversity loss in páramos compromises their ecological functionality and puts at risk the provisioning of drinking water to millions of Colombians. In this thesis I study a community-based conservation initiative in El Almorzadero páramo. I analyze and discuss the potential of this type of conservation scheme as an alternative to traditional protected area approaches. I use field observations and semi-structured interviews to collect data. I find that local context, institutional support, and changes in environmental perception are determining factors to sustainable resource management. Although there are several challenges such as opposition, absent governmental institutions, and a prohibitionist legal framework, the social benefits of this initiative are substantial, and they do not undermine its potential ecological benefits.