Evaluación del efecto del cambio climático como amenaza para los páramos de Llangahua, cantón Ambato

Abstract

The Llangahua paramo is an area populated by indigenous people and peasants whose main economic activity is linked to agriculture and the use of natural resources. With the growth of the population, pressures grow from groups of comuneros, in particular from those who had many animals, to have more land from the paramo by continuing to raise the agricultural frontier by 10 m. This added to the excessive presence of animals in the paramo, the constant burning of the grasslands, the felling of the native forest for the extraction of wood, the reduction and hardening of the swamp areas, the capture of new water sources, and the opening of new roads, evidences a progressive degradation of natural resources, whose most serious features were expressed in (1) the scarcity of water for irrigation and domestic use and (2) the loss of the paramo's regulatory capacity. In the area of Llangahua, the situation of the paramo was starting from a crisis, reaching 10% of strong erosion and a process of permanent overgrazing in the paramo with a stocking rate of 0.42 bov/ha which endangered 300, 22 ha of wetlands.Therefore, it was decided to declare the 6,213 ha of communal moorland a `protected reserve` and indivisible. These 6,213 ha of the community reserve agreement were added to the 3,205 ha of grasslands of the Pucutahua Association, achieving a continuous reserve of 9,418 ha in the province of Tungurahua. This research work concludes that the state of the Llangahua páramo regarding plant cover and water resources gradually improved during the 2013 - 2021 period, because it is aimed at laying the fundamental foundations of a recovery, conservation and management plan sustainable use of natural resources (water, paramo, forest remnants) through social agreements and the implementation of productive alternatives for the communities near the study area.