Gobernanza ambiental del Páramo de Chingaza (La Calera, Cundinamarca)

Abstract

In 2024, Bogotá and the municipalities of La Sabana faced an unprecedented water crisis caused by falling water levels in the Chuza Reservoir—a key component of the Chingaza System, which supplies water to 80% of the capital—as well as in the San Lorenzo Creek, the water source for the municipality of La Calera. According to Garavito (2015), “the páramos in Colombia face a growing risk due to anthropogenic pressures” (p. 129). This situation highlighted the fragility of páramo ecosystems and the urgent need to strengthen environmental governance mechanisms. Colombia is one of the few countries in the world that possesses a diversity of natural resources and ecosystems such as páramos, which are considered strategic ecosystems, particularly due to their role in regulating the hydrological cycle that sustains the supply of water resources for human consumption and the development of economic activities for more than 70% of the Colombian population. (MinAmbiente, 2021). The objective of this study is to analyze environmental governance in the Páramo de Chingaza, understood as “the rules, practices, social organization, and decision-making processes that affect the environment. It involves not only the government, but also civil society, the private sector, and communities, at multiple scales, from the local to the global” (Lemos & Agrawal, 2006, p. 297). From this perspective, the relevance of ecosystem services, community participation, and land-use planning is emphasized as fundamental dimensions for ensuring the sustainability of the ecosystem. In this same vein, Ragin (2007) argues that “social research consists of a systematic effort to articulate ideas and evidence, so that we can produce knowledge about social life” (p. 25). This conception is relevant for analyzing the issues facing the Chingaza Páramo, where the tension between environmental conservation and peasant productive activities constitutes a social and ecological challenge that needs to be understood from a comprehensive and participatory approach.