Andes
CONDESAN (Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion) is a 10-year-old group of more than 70 organisations — national and international, public and private, and including universities, Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research (CGIAR) centres, development NGOs, research institutions, government agencies, municipalities and producer associations. A key...
The Sierra de Portuguesa is an Andean mountain system with important biodiversity associated with montane vegetation types. Human use existed well before European colonisation. Coffee plantations and slash-and-burn agriculture have been predominant in the last 200 years. Three distinct national parks — Yacambú, Terepaima, and Guache — were designated there at different times...
Data from legal records, management plans, and interviews with 63 local experts reveal the substantial expansion of 15 protected areas (PAs) of forest in Ecuador and Peru during the last two decades. Combining results for these PAs, the area under protection increased by over half, from 5,760,814 to 8,972,896 ha, with the Amazonian PAs adding the greatest expanse. Most of this expanded land...
The Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Eco-region (CONDESAN) is an association of public and private sector partners with a common focus, who take advantage of synergies to carry out and facilitate concerted action in research, training, development, and policy initiatives. Such action is designed to coordinate sustainable socioeconomic advances that promote the equity and...
Tourism is a business. Despite attractive brochures that advertise international understanding and exchange between local people and tourists, tourism is clearly a business proposition for those who supply tourist services and those who market these services world-wide. It is also clear that tourists themselves are more interested in relaxation, a change of scenery, and their own enjoyment...
The tropical Andes region has extraordinary biological diversity with considerable endemism. The complex topography, climate, geology, and biogeographic history of the Andes have helped create a high turnover in species over distance and along steep environmental gradients. The humid montane and premontane forests of the tropical Andes compete with the lowland Amazonian forests in species...
In Peru, strong growth in urban demand for industrially processed dairy products has induced a rapid increase in milk production along the coast but not so much in the Andean highlands, where an increase in milk production would create the greatest benefits. A farm–household optimisation model was used to assess the current and changing competitiveness of milk production on the coast (...
We estimated the above-ground net primary productivity of 5 semi-natural Andean pastures: 2 páramo grassland plots (430 and 512 g/m2/y), 2 plots in cleared montane forest (70 and 110 g/m2/y), and 1 in an intensive agricultural setting (1359 g/m2/y). The páramo and montane forest plots demonstrated very low productivity compared with the lowest...
Watersheds are an attractive unit for development in mountainous landscapes. However, watershed analysis usually requires significantly more time, data and funds, and must include more actors. Also, results may be disappointing. Many off-site effects are very difficult to modify without major changes in land use systems. Frequently, these land use changes (e.g. more pasture or reforestation)...
Accelerated soil erosion is a common and environmentally destructive consequence of development, especially in mountain regions. Soil erosion is of special concern in agricultural lands, but agriculture is only one of many development activities that greatly accelerates soil erosion processes. Road building, trail use, excavation, extractive activities, and construction also can cause severe...
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