Percepciones del agua y sus implicaciones en la sostenibilidad para las comunidades del área de influencia del pnn Chingaza

Abstract

This research has the objective to describe Mundo Nuevo’s (La Calera), Rosario’s, La Caja’s y Chatasugá’s (Choachí) community perception about Chingaza’s National Natural Park and water resource. Understanding water influence in improvement of rural population life conditions, and other guidelines drawn from Institutions for the development of economic activities in Buffer Zone established by Chingaza’s National Natural Park at the countryside of these territorial entities. The investigation follows rural conditions of water, its provision, sanitation and other determinant factors involved in rural life quality. Gathering information will be both formal and informal, through approaching to communities and their leaders, and application of structured surveys with no conditioned answers and involving conversations between the researchers and community members to establish perceptions and get necessary information to apply and calculate Water Poverty Index (WPI), proposed by Sullivan (2003) and modified by the authors-researchers, to be used local scaled, and to compare the chosen territorial entities. It is expected that information and analysis of this research give trustworthy data, about the evidenced rural life realities in each one of the territorial entities evaluated, that allows the creation and elaboration of strategies and actions from communities or together with National’s Natural Parks to promote “the double sustainability”,(Cernea & Schmidt-Soltau, 2006) which means sustainability of communities and also biodiversity sustainability. This research paper collects valuable information provided by the visited communities to the authors, hoping that the knowledge of their opinions, feelings, and perceptions regarding the management both water resource and Chingaza’s National Natural Park conservation and operation may guarantee them in the future, development opportunities including the improvement of their current living conditions, the improvement of their income, access to employment, public services such as drinking water, electricity, gas (from alternative sources) and education. This would favor the well-being of the elderly and prevent young people from migrating to other territorial entities or to Bogotá looking for better opportunities.