La Revista Digital 1 Versión Final Revista No. 2 - Prueva | Page 53
Legado de los Programas de Desarrollo Ambiental Participativo (PDAP)
en los Andes: Lecciones Aprendidas
The Legacy of Participatory Environmental Development Programs in the Andes:
Lessons Learned
Charles B. Kenny-Jordan ([email protected])
The Charles Jordan Group, Quito, Ecuador
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Resumen
Los Andes son un mosaico de tierras agrícolas
productivas e improductivas, plantaciones forestales,
bosques nativos, páramos, laderas, valles, humedales,
lagos, ríos y quebradas. Los agricultores andinos dependen
de estos paisajes para obtener una amplia variedad
de servicios: agua, suelos, pastos, alimentos, madera,
medicinas, deportes, bienestar cultural y equilibrio
espiritual. Décadas de mal uso han afectado seriamente
la capacidad de muchos de estos paisajes de continuar
proporcionando estos servicios, poniendo en riesgo a
las familias campesinas. Programas de desarrollo rural y
ambiental que llevaron a cabo instituciones nacionales,
internacionales, ONGs y algunas empresas privadas en
las últimas cuatro décadas han ayudado a disminuir los
riesgos de cientos de miles agricultores andinos, mediante
la promoción e implementación de planes comunitarios
y/o familiares de manejo ambiental de autosuperación.
Motivados por estos éxitos, muchas organizaciones locales
(corporaciones de desarrollo, municipios, ONGs y comités
campesinos) crearon programas propios de desarrollo
ambiental. Sin embargo, estos programas se enfrentan
hoy a muchos obstáculos, incluyendo el paternalismo, la
desconfianza, el debilitamiento comunitario, prácticas
agrícolas y forestales poco productivas y ecológicamente
hostiles, procedimientos comerciales desleales, programas
de capacitación y extensión campesina ineficaces, la
desigualdad de género, proyectos de infraestructura y
minería dañinos, la lucha interna institucional, el crimen
y la violencia. Este documento va dirigido a estudiantes,
jóvenes profesionales y a otros futuros agentes de
desarrollo. Les enseña cómo superar estos obstáculos,
concluyendo que la mejor manera de promover el manejo
sostenible de los recursos naturales en los Andes es a través
del liderazgo bien informado y capacitado de comunidades
de familias campesinas que habitan las tierras altas andinas.
Palabras clave: los Andes, familias campesinas,
desarrollo sostenible, planificación participativa,
capacidades institucionales y gestión, protección de
ecosistemas.
Abstract
The Andes are a mosaic of productive and unproductive
agricultural lands, forest plantations, native forests, moors,
slopes, valleys, wetlands, lakes, rivers and streams. Andean
farmers depend on these landscapes for a wide variety of
Revista de Glaciares y Ecosistemas de Montaña 2 (2017): 51-64
services: water, soils, pastures, food, timber, medicines,
sports, cultural well-being and spiritual balance. Decades
of misuse have seriously affected the ability of many of
these landscapes to continue to provide these services,
putting peasant families at risk. Rural and environmental
development programs carried out by national and
international institutions, NGOs and some private
companies in the last four decades have helped to reduce
the risks of hundreds of thousands of Andean farmers
through the promotion and implementation of community
and/or family plans of self-improvement environmental
management. Motivated by these successes, many local
organizations (development corporations, municipalities,
NGOs and campesino committees) created their own
environmental development programs. However, these
programs today face many obstacles, including paternalism,
mistrust, community weakening, unproductive and
ecologically hostile agricultural and forestry practices,
unfair trade procedures, ineffective peasant extension and
training programs, gender inequality, harmful infrastructure
and mining projects, internal institutional strife, crime and
violence. This document is intended for students, young
professionals and other future development agents. It
teaches them how to overcome these obstacles, concluding
that the best way to promote the sustainable management of
natural resources in the Andes is through the well-informed
and trained leadership of communities of farming families
living in the Andean highlands.
The best way to promote sustainable management of
natural resources in the Andes is by having informed local
leadership of the rural communities and farm families
that inhabit these highlands. Armed with passionate
and innovative staff, national, international and NGO
development programs have, over the last four decades,
helped many hundreds of thousands of Andean farm
families improve their livelihoods while simultaneously
protecting the environment. These programs have
enhanced ownership and problem solving capabilities
of rural communities and farming families through the
application of participatory planning and evaluation
methodologies aimed at generating equal benefits for
both female and male farmers. This approach has proven
to be very effective way for improving the livelihoods
of rural inhabitants particularly when used to promote
a combination of environmentally friendly agriculture,
forestry and integrated watershed practices, enhanced
through the implementation of landscape conservation
schemes and non-wood forest enterprises.
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