Natural Reserves of Civil Society as Strategic Ecosystems: Case Study … · 2017-08-14 · Case Study Meremberg . Luis Alexander Carvajal Pinilla1, Ruthber Rodríguez Serrezuela2,

International Journal of Applied Environmental Sciences

ISSN 0973-6077 Volume 12, Number 6 (2017), pp. 1203-1213

© Research India Publications

http://www.ripublication.com

Natural Reserves of Civil Society as Strategic Ecosystems:

Case Study Meremberg

Luis Alexander Carvajal Pinilla1, Ruthber Rodríguez Serrezuela2, Julián David

Salazar Díaz1, María Fernanda Martínez1, Luis Carlos Losada Benavides1.

1Environmental Engineering Program, Corporacion Universitaria del Huila Corhuila

2Faculty of Biomedical, Electronic and Mechatronics Engineering, Universidad Antonio Nariño

Abstract

Strategic ecosystems play an important role in national, regional and local

territory, promoting processes for the development of human societies through

goods and environmental services. The recognition of ecosystems by

beneficiaries allows the sustainability of the territory. Therefore, we set out to

identify the criterion for considerer of Meremberg reserve as a strategic

ecosystem for their goods and environmental services.

The study was conducted in three stages: i) characterization of the landscape by

describing the geomorphological, climatic, biotic and anthropic components; ii)

identification and mapping of strategic points such as water sources and forests;

iii) rapid rural participatory diagnosis by surveying the population about their

perception and benefits of the goods and environmental services.

Meremberg reserve is located in mountainous terrain on the Eastern slopes of

the central mountains in Colombia. The study area is known for morning mist,

feature of weather of high mountains in Colombian Andeans. Meremberg

reserve has 13 forest units, predominantly oak, higueron, yarumo and walnut.

The reserve is habitat and biological corridor for the tapir, ocelots, howler

monkeys, deer and cusumbos. Also, it is surrounded by native people and the

Tálaga indigenous community. The Meremberg reserve has 311,47 hectares,

where 56,96% are forests and 43,04% are pasture and other crop lands.

Meremberg has 87 permanent water sources. For all the surrounding population,

1204 Luis Alexander Carvajal Pinilla

Meremberg reserve has great relevance as a water source for human

consumption, water for crops, generating employment and cultural identity.

Meremberg is a strategic ecosystem because it has the conditions for the

protection of threatened species, protection status, maintenance and

conservation by surrounding inhabitants and Tálaga indigenous community that

increase the benefits for their development.

Keywords: natural resources, conservation, indigenous community, water

sources, environmental services.

1. INTRODUCTION

Ecosystems are important elements in all the territories of a nation, these usually offer

a diverse range of goods and provision of environmental services that to the neighboring

societies and constitute a fundamental base for the development of the citizens living

next to these ecosystems [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. Ecosystems are classified as terrestrial (e.g.

forests, deserts, savannas) and aquatic (marine and freshwater), in Colombia forest

ecosystems predominate, especially the rain-forest and forests in the Andes mountain

[2, 3, 7].

Forests are a resource for hundreds of people [8, 9], which allow human societies to

advance in their social, economic, environmental and cultural development. The

availability of environmental goods and services gives benefit to landscape assessment

and defines territories that can be occupy in order to favor conditions of human well-

being [10].

However, although all ecosystems provide elements, the development of human

societies may depend on a few ecosystems [10] that could be consider as strategic [11,

12, 13]. This feature allows humans to have a different vision for protection and

conservation leading to achieving ecosystem sustainability, in addition to benefiting

from its products and increasing the environmental value of the territory [3, 14, 15, 16].

The evaluation given by communities living close to ecosystems in terms of benefits,

culture and environmental management [17] offers a connotation of living territory

involving an ecosystem metastability. In other words, the value of social importance

between human generations and environmental can be holistic vision [2, 3]. The present

study is the first in the region that uses criteria of recognition of ecosystem utilities and

the cartographic development of the Meremberg reserve.

Based on the above, we identify the most important criteria to consider the Meremberg

Reserve as a strategic ecosystem for the provision of environmental goods and services

for the development of the surrounding communities in the municipality of La Plata,

Huila.

Natural Reserves of Civil Society as Strategic Ecosystems… 1205

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS.

2.1 Study area.

Meremberg was part of the initial group that constituted civil society reserves in

Colombia [18], is located on the western slope of the central mountain range in the

village of La Maria, Inspection of Belen, municipality of La Plata, Huila, Colombia

(Figure 1). The reserve is located at 2°13'N and 76°7'W with an average altitude of

2,300 asl. The main water source is the La Mona stream tributary of the Aguacatal river.

It is a buffer zone of the Natural Park Purace Volcano and it is part of the biological

corridor with the Natural Park Cueva de Los Guacharos.

Figure 1. Location of the study area in Colombia.

2.2 Characterization of the landscape

The entire reserve was surveyed with the purpose of carrying out the analysis of the

landscape with the components of: i) altitude range was measured through the use of

GPS; (ii) climate, precipitation, temperature and wind variables were obtained from the

climatic station 21051 (2°13'N - 76° 7'W at 2,220 asl) with a historical record since

2000, located inside the Meremberg reserve; iii) biotic, an arboreal forest inventory was

carried out through 5 linear transects of 200m, of which 4 were located on the edge and

one in the inside of the forest. In addition, the inhabitants of the study area were asked

about the presence of wild animals around the reserve; iv) anthropic, an inventory of

houses and family composition was made.

2.3 Identification and mapping of strategic points.

It was considered as strategic points those areas where the water production was

evidenced, as inclusion criterion was the constant production of water flow in the dry

and rainy seasons of the region, and the wooded areas making a tour of the entire


reserve. The mapping of the strategic points was done through a GPS Garmin eTrex 3.0

and the data were analyzed in Arc-GIS.

2.4 Rapid Rural Participatory Diagnosis (RRPD).

In order to know the perception and benefits that the people surrounding Meremberg

obtain from the reservation, a survey was developed with open questions and depending

on their answer new questions were asked in order to have more specific and relevant

information to define the criteria for strategic ecosystems. The survey was based on the

following 25 criteria: water for human consumption, natural diversity, legal

recognition, interaction between ecosystems, water and soil for agriculture and

livestock, human settlements, natural defenses and threats, natural water purification,

educational activities and scientific, cultural identity and diversity, fishing and

aquaculture, mineral resources, area of influence, historical and archaeological heritage,

singularity, hydroelectricity, tourism and recreation, landscape and artistic and literary

creation, communication and telecommunications routes, water for industrial use,

paleontological heritage, emblems of the department of Huila and its municipalities,

imaginary that socialize the media, geopolitical and military control and natural limits

[12, 13].

3. RESULTS

3.1 Characterization of the landscape.

Geomorphology: in the Meremberg reserve mountainous terrain predominates (Figure

2a), located in the western slope of the central mountain range with an altitudinal range

between 2,200 asl and 2,400 asl. The water resource shows water be borns with constant

flow (Figure 2b), the remaining water contributes to the Aguacatal River.

Figure 2. Characterization of the Meremberg reserve landscape.


- As for the climate, the average precipitation is of 2,000 mm, a wide temperature ranges

between 12°C and 18°C, the wind circulates through the canyon of the Aguacatal river

from east to west. The reserve is characterized by the presence of constant fog in the

early hours of the morning.

- As for the biotic component, Meremberg is made up of 13 independent forest units

occupying 177.41 hectares, representing 56.96% of the total area of the reserve. The

predominant species of flora are Quercus humboldtii (oak), Ficus guntheri (fig tree),

Cordia alliodora (laurel) and Cecropia peltata (yarumo). Meremberg serves as habitat

and biological corridor of several species such as Tapirus pinchaque (tapir), Leopardus tigrinus (ocelotes), Odocoileus virginianus (venado), Alouatta seniculus (monkeys

howling) and Nasua nasua (cusumbos).

- Regarding the anthropic aspects, four houses are located within the reserve in no more

than 1,000m2 whose purpose is to provide accommodation to visitors (Figure 3),

permanently inhabited by 5 people. Meremberg is crossed by a road linking the

municipality of La Plata with Popayan (capital of the Department of Cauca), is used as

access to sidewalks and transportation of the products they grow. At one end of the

reserve is established the Talaga indigenous community, which was relocated by one

of the avalanches of the Paez river about 23 years ago. This community is composed of

its governor and 148 indigenous. Additionally, around Meremberg there are 13 houses

inhabited by 73 people. The inspection of Belen is composed of approximately 1,000

inhabitants and is located 30 minutes south from the reserve.

Figure 3. Houses of the Meremberg reserve.


3.2. Identification and mapping of strategic points.

The Meremberg reserve consists of 311.47 hectares including 56.96% of forested

vegetation and substitute vegetation (pasture for livestock and crops with predominance

of passionfruit) with the remaining 43.04% of the total area.

The strategic points were represented by 13 forest units surveyed and identified in the

reserve, the units can be found as fragments of forest and in other cases there is

connectivity between forests. Additionally, 87 permanent water nests were detected and

are independent of the pluviometric regime of the zone (Figure 4).

Figure 4. The strategic points in Meremberg reserve, water resources (points blue),

forests (green) and substitute vegetation (yellow).

3.3. Rapid Rural Participatory Diagnosis (RRPD).

A total of 113 interviews were carried out, of which 69 were from the Talaga indigenous

community, including the indigenous governor and 44 inhabitants of the region, all

interviewees said they had some kind of relationship with the reserve.

According to Meremberg's utilities, we find that:

i) the 87 permanent water resources are used for human consumption with a population

of approximately 1,200 inhabitants, including the indigenous community, the

surrounding villagers and the Belen Inspection. The water is used for the various crops,


in which the passiofruit is considered as main economic axis of the region. On the other

hand, water is an important growth factor for pastures that feed livestock, which

contributes to the region's economy. The remaining water flows through the La Mona

stream, a tributary of the Aguacatal river where its waters finally contribute to increase

levels in the dam of Betania with a hydroelectric.

ii) Meremberg is 13 forest units contribute to climate regulation, maintenance of the

hydrological cycle and serves as habitat for species showing a natural balance in the

reserve. In addition, forests contribute to the capture of greenhouse gases, constituting

an important source of oxygen at the local level.

iii) the interaction of the indigenous community, the inhabitants close to the reserve and

the residents with Meremberg itself is constant due to the different social relations they

hold, such as, controlled cultivation area, restricting activities to forests that threaten

against its stability and the passage of ancestral knowledge in medicines and

environmental sustainability.

4. DISCUSSION.

Studies of forest goods and services are with special emphasis on the benefits that nature

provides to human societies [2, 3, 14, 19]. The elements taken from nature improve the

conditions that benefit the development and well-being of the human communities that

live close to the ecosystems, this increases the value that humans give to nature [1, 10,

20, 21].

This study is the first in the region that uses criteria for the recognition of strategic

ecosystems in the department of Huila [12, 13], the natural water resource is very

important for the inhabitants that living near. In this paper, we present the results of a

study of the unit forest habitat for the wild species [22, 23].

According to the geomorphological and climatic characteristics of the reserve including

the constant water supply with the average annual rainfall [24] and the 87 permanent

water resources. Meremberg could be preliminarily classified as a strategic ecosystem

[25]. This categorization could encourage local government to create new laws for the

protection and environmental conservation of natural resources [22, 26, 27].

Interactions between forest units have constituted a habitat and biological corridor of

species such as Tapirus pinchaque, Leopardus tigrinus and Odocoileus virginianus, as

well as the arrival of birds in search of shelter or as a migration route. For this reason,

forests are constitute a great genetic resource acting as germplasm bank for tropical

areas and interaction between species [10, 28, 29].

In Meremberg, 56.96% of the 311.47 hectares is made up of forests responsible for the

maintenance of the hydrological cycle, the water produced in the reserve has a large


number of beneficiaries, such as the indigenous people of the Talaga community,

inhabitants adjacent to the reserve and the inhabitants of the Inspection of Belen. The

residual water passes through the Betania dam for industrial production and use for

hydroelectricity [12, 22, 25].

The perception of indigenous people towards the forests of the Meremberg reserve

emphasizes respect for Mother Nature and their actions are conducive to the

sustainability of the ecosystem [30, 31]. Usually indigenous people associate forests as

sacred elements of nature and define the patterns of their cosmology that improve the

environmental management of Meremberg [3, 32, 33].

As noted in the present study, the perception of communities towards forest units is

favorable because of the benefits they receive and have as a collective objective to

improve ecosystem management in order to continue to enjoy environmental goods and

services and recognize that the effect of their actions on the reserve will depend on the

sustainability of Meremberg increasing the environmental value of the territory [2, 3,

4, 6, 32, 34].

5. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS.

The forest dynamics of the Meremberg reserve permit the production, regulation and

transport of the water resource, highlighting the 87 permanent water resources are

consider by the indigenous community and surrounding inhabitants as the most

important criterion in the characterization and definition of Meremberg as a strategic

ecosystem.

The relationship between the forest units and the water resource present in the

Meremberg reserve allows the development of adjacent communities. In the economic

sector, water is used to irrigate crops as a driving force in the region. In the social sector,

interactions between water, forests and communities surrounding the reserve generate

jobs and promote cultural identity.

We recommend that this study be the academic base in the city council of La Plata for

the legislative improvement in the protection and conservation of natural reserves and

promote the monitoring of the natural resources of ecosystems that are used by human

communities for their development.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

The authors are grateful to the residents of Meremberg reserve and Talaga indigenous

community for their willingness and support in the development of surveys and tours

throughout the study area.


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Documents

Natural Reserves of Civil Society as Strategic Ecosystems: Case Study … · 2017-08-14 · Case Study Meremberg . Luis Alexander Carvajal Pinilla1, Ruthber Rodríguez Serrezuela2,