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BACKGROUND

AGUASISO experience in the Cruz Verde-Sumapaz Páramo (day 1). The páramos are key ecosystems for water conservation, for the origin of rivers and water sources that sustain forests, and for agricultural activities in the lowland areas. Colombia is home to the largest páramos complex in the world, Cruz Verde-Sumapaz, with more than 315 thousand hectares in the Eastern Cordillera, south of Bogotá, between the departments of Cundinamarca, Meta and Huila.

In this environment, the AGUASISO Regional Water Supply Association, supported by the European Union and other international cooperation agencies and in alliance with government entities, has been working on the implementation of the Territorial Route “Regional Integration Alliance for the characterization of properties with potential for entry into the Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) Scheme in the Cruz Verde-Sumapaz Páramo complex”. These efforts aim to identify and establish areas of intervention:

Actions to be recognized (in Ha)
Preservation  1.478,83 Ha
Passive Restoration 8,80 Ha
Active Restoration 27,38 Ha
Total areas to be recognized 1.515,01 Ha

These properties, mostly located in the municipalities of Pasca, Sibaté and a small percentage in Soacha, are connecting properties on the border of areas of strategic importance, which allow producers to organize to protect the moors and the areas that supply water to nearby communities. This recognition leaves areas for protection or conservation, limiting the impact on the agricultural frontier and the deterioration of the soil, and recognizing the need to maintain food security for both their family and social environment.
The PSA has been consolidated as an effective strategy to prevent changes in environmental coverage. This mechanism offers an economic incentive, either in cash or in kind, to owners, possessors or occupants of land, in recognition of their conservation and restoration efforts in ecosystems and strategic areas. PSAs emerged due to the lack of incentives for conservation in rural communities. Therefore, these schemes not only seek to provide financial support, but also to guarantee access to land and promote the sustainability of agricultural production.

Terras Group Experience (day 2). The Territories, Agroecology and Agrifood Systems Research Group (TERRAS) of the Faculties of Agricultural Sciences and Medicine of the National University of Colombia (UNAL- Bogotá Campus) is made up of teachers, graduates and students interested in studying and supporting processes in rural and urban territories related to agrifood systems from an agroecological and sustainability perspective.

Within this work, experiences have been identified that offer a view from the working-class neighborhoods of southern Bogotá on the articulation of urban spaces around a Regional Popular Mandate for Food Sovereignty as a way of building governance and politics from the grassroots. This social construction takes place from community kitchens and dining rooms, stoves, assemblies and meetings where food is shared, but a line of public policy is also built. These are small-scale spaces where social organizations, cities and territories work for food sovereignty, the right to decent food and the organization of territories around water. These proposals are anchored in the National Development Plan (PND). The Juntanza Techotiva platform articulates experiences around issues of food sovereignty in the town of Techotiva (an ancestral indigenous name), through initiatives of agroecological gardens and cultural, pedagogical spaces and the construction of alternatives to development based on resistance, incidence and collective construction from the grassroots. The platform has led processes to defend the Bavaria Forest and the four wetlands in the town, which has contributed to the institutional recognition of the Tingua Azul wetland and to the ecological restoration of the territory after the recent fires. It also develops strategies to strengthen short marketing circuits in coordination with social organizations in the city, mainly women, who lead communal pots, community stores and popular markets that strengthen food networks and autonomy.

From the Techotiva Itinerant School for the Territory, a social organization that articulates the “La Adelita” AgroCulture Unit and the Techotiva Seed Reservoir, exercises have been promoted to reconstruct the cultural, natural and social memory of the Southern Territory – a scenario nestled in the basins of the Funza, Tunjuelo and Fucha rivers. This Platform has integrated the municipalities close to the city and the rural areas of Bogotá through policies of Popular-Integral Rural Reform aimed at production within a framework of agroecological transition and protection of water sources, ecosystems and biodiversity. It proposes a political alternative around food (and the pot) closely linked to the care and development of the territories.

TRAVEL AND LOGISTICS

Day 1: Participants will travel for 2 hours by bus from downtown Bogotá to the municipality of Sibaté. Then, the bus journey will continue (1 hour) to the Páramo de Cruz Verde-Sumapaz reserve area, where a 2-hour walk is expected. Please note that the Páramo area is located at 3,400 meters above sea level. At the end of the visit, participants will return to a hotel in Bogotá to sleep in shared rooms.

Day 2: Participants will leave downtown Bogotá to the town of TechoTiva (an ancestral indigenous name for what is currently also known as the town of Kennedy), located in the southern part of the city. There, short walks will be taken and there will be participation and lunch at community potlucks.

YOU WILL LEARN ABOUT

  • The importance of moorlands in water conservation, water regulation and the maintenance of biodiversity, and the role of communities in their care and protection.
  • The Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) scheme as a strategy for the preservation of strategic ecosystems, and the community impact of conservation actions.
  • The challenges of rural aqueducts, their commitment to the community and the care of strategic ecosystems.
  • The role of neighborhood articulations and soup kitchens in the construction of alternative public policies and defense of the territory.
  • The concept of agroecology in an urban context and its environmental, human rights and food sovereignty dimension.
  • The importance of protecting water sources, ecosystems, biodiversity and seeds for their role in rural-urban links.

WHAT TO BRING

We are in Bogotá, with great accessibility to everything. It may be useful to bring some cash in case you want to buy something at the market.

Bring a bottle of water and a hat in case of sun. In the Páramo area it is possible that it will rain a lot, so it is recommended to bring a raincoat or poncho, rain boots or all-terrain shoes, and comfortable, warm clothing.

PARTICIPANTS

  • You will visit one of the largest and most diverse Páramo in the world to become familiar with actions for ecosystem conservation and restoration, agroecological practices and their impact on communities.
  • You will exchange experiences with representatives of local organizations and community leaders on the Payment for Environmental Services (PSA) scheme as a strategy for the preservation of ecosystems.
  • You will learn about several small-scale processes in a popular neighborhood of Bogotá that contribute to the construction of a popular mandate for food sovereignty.
  • They will participate with the members of TechoTiva in a popular pot or stove, and will see how these food spaces are used to build agendas for the demand for rights and alternative public policies.