Resilience To Climate Variability: The Role Of Perceptions And Traditional Knowledge In The Colombian Andes

Adaptive capacity and transformation to climate variability not only depend on the environmental conditions of a farm, but on the way in which farmers are able to face and change factors related to structural political, economic, and cultural dynamics. The objective of this research is to analyse how perceptions and traditional knowledge influence the resilience of farmers in the Colombian Andes, in the face of climate variability, through a set of qualitative methods. The main identified perceived causes of climate variability were deforestation and pollution, while greater solar radiation intensity was the most mentioned effect, linked to crops and biodiversity loss. The most extended adaptation strategies consisted of on-farm, short-term agricultural measures, which favour a certain degree of adaptation but are limited in their potential to build up resilience. This research provides insights on the feedback between the perceptions and traditional ecological knowledge of peasant communities and the social-ecological factors that enhance or hamper their resilience towards climate variability. It is argued that successful strategies must respond not only to climatic conditions, but to the transformation of unequal economic and political factors that hinder resilience. Including these factors in research and policy-making is fundamental if resilience is to be achieved.