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Resilience in the rural Andes

29.12.2016

A recently published special issue of Regional Environmental Change focuses on “Resilience in the rural Andes”. The Andes present an ideal learning space to draw lessons on existing and emerging resilience challenges and opportunities. Andean people and communities have co-evolved with the unique high-mountain contexts in which they live, sometimes in altitudes of more than 3 800 metres. Although historical achievements including irrigation systems, domestication of camelids (llama and alpaca) and crop preservation techniques facilitated the development of ancient civilizations in the Andes, modern Andean people face serious challenges in achieving food security and well-being.

This special issue aims to improve our understanding of the key dynamics of socio-ecological systems that constrain or foster resilience in the rural Andes. It comprises six papers that investigate three core features of resilience in a variety of socio-ecological systems: diversity, connectivity and development models. The novel insights into resilience dynamics include specific features related to the high-mountain contexts and socio-political tensions in the Andes. Future research can build on this knowledge to further not only resilience theory but also methodological approaches that reflect both case-specific and generic complexity.

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Photo: FAO/Esteban Tapella