Integrating conservation and ecologically sustainable development of wetlands is a major challenge, especially in developing countries. While many developing countries harbour significant biodiversity and socio-cultural resources, they have substantial development pressures. We explore the similarities in issues around wetland conservation and sustainability in three developing countries using case studies of internationally significant wetlands in Tanzania, Colombia and Papua New Guinea. We examine key aspects of their socio-ecological values, stakeholder and governance issues, conservation and management issues, and management responses. Key challenges across these regions include inadequate knowledge and data, population and development impacts, poor regulatory and planning processes, socio-economic inequities and conflict. All three areas lack adequate inventory, survey and monitoring, and there are significant risks to some wetland values. Mechanisms such as the Ramsar Convention provide a framework to assist in addressing global wetland loss, but implementation at these sites needs to be supported by effective, integrative approaches involving natural resource regulation, conservation and the development needs of local communities. Increased commitment and resourcing, along with comprehensive stakeholder engagement, are needed to develop and implement locally tailored plans to effectively manage these sites and their values, while also addressing the range of stakeholder needs and perspectives.
Recent years have attested to the intensification of armed conflicts around the world. Although conflict and tourism -two of the most lucrative contemporary enterprises -seem incompatible concepts, a new relationship between risk and adventure is emerging. This paper attempts an approach to the incidence of armed conflict on ecotourism in Colombia considering its endemic sociopolitical variables. The situation of risk to potential tourism diffused by the mass media is founded on images of bombs, shootings, combats, massacres, drugs and kidnapping, making Colombia a dangerous country included in the black-list of global tourism. Although ecotourism is considered one of the main strategies of the state environmental institutions for generating revenues in the National Parks, and their populations, the reality is that these areas have been transformed into places of armed direct confrontation for legal and illegal groups. Different strategies have been adapted by institutional agencies around ecotourism in National Parks, contesting problems generated by conflict. How is the challenge of ecotourism assumed in an attractive scenario for the leisure market and nature contemplation, but affected by war, like the National Parks? A clear position doesn't exist. The environmental authorities opt to close entry to visitors, and officials deny access permits to these areas; while on the other hand, politics of social participation are profiled in the conservation that looks to link the local populations of the Parks like the sustenance of conservation. Nevertheless, ecotourism is today a high-risk adventure involving armed actors, illicit crops, traffic areas and refuge; but it is also one of the most interesting fields in the construction of peace that remains still unexplored, considering the cultural and ecological potential of the country beyond exclusively economic concepts.
En este artículo se presentan un inventario de 653 lagos que suman 1.495 hectáreas (Ha.) ubicados en las tierras altas de la cordillera Central colombiana entre los departamentos de Tolima y Valle del Cauca. El inventario fue realizado en el área delimitada por el gobierno nacional como Complejo de páramos Las Hermosas, a partir del procesamiento de la información cartográfica disponible en IGAC a escala 1:25.000, comparada con una Imagen satelital RapidEye 2009-2010 y otras fuentes secundarias usando Sistemas de Información Geográfica. Como parte del inventario, se analiza la distribución de los lagos por jurisdicciones, cuencas hidrográficas, tamaño y rangos altitudinales. Finalmente, se plantean algunas interpretaciones basadas en las series de datos obtenidos, para concluir con las necesidades de investigación prioritarias y avanzar en el conocimiento de los humedales en el área observada.
BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.
En este artículo, se analiza el proceso a través del cual los páramos colombianos han llegado a ser delimitados y declarados objeto de protección especial, prohibiendo los usos mineros y agropecuarios, y demandando la reconversión y sustitución gradual de las actividades productivas. Una serie de documentos legales emitidos por el gobierno nacional en torno a la delimitación y protección de los páramos, pone en evidencia una forma de institucionalización de la función de los ecosistemas para preservar un régimen hídrico. Este modelo basado en la declaratoria y manejo de espacios como “complejos”, separa los páramos de sus territorios mediante líneas en el mapa, mientras a sus habitantes se les limita el uso de la tierra como parte de una forma legal de apropiación técnica y control experto de unas “fábricas de agua” para el mercado emergente de los servicios ecosistémicos.
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