Launch of the Paramunos Interactive Platform

The Andean páramos, like many upland ecosystems throughout the world, are under increasing pressure from social, climate and land use changes. 

The research project “Integrating ecological and cultural histories to inform sustainable and equitable futures for the Colombian páramos” investigates how an integrated environmental-historical understanding of páramo ecosystem patterns, processes and pressures can provide insights to new governance solutions. 

The director of the project, Prof Piran White, outlines - “It's vital that we find solutions that are equitable and meet the needs of everyone, particularly the páramo communities.”

As part of this project the IGDC (University of York), together with the Humboldt Institute, the Collective Almanaques Agroecologicos, and the design network RIZOMA, has now launched the website paramunos.com. 

Prof White adds “The platform seeks to serve as both a celebration and a point of discovery for the cultural practices of the páramo. We hope it will serve as a gateway for resources on educational research, cultural practices and art and promote care for the páramo.  In doing so we hope it will strengthen the visibility of knowledge, voices and experiences of the páramo.”

“This platform really gathers a lot of perspectives and diversity of interactions of human beings that inhabit the páramo and that enables us to get to know and strengthen the practices that protect and defend the territories.” commented Colombian geographer and historian Lina Cortes, who leads the Collective Almanaques Agroecologicos.

As Dr Hanne Cottyn explains  “Nature can not be separated from people, they jointly constitute the páramo in different ways.” The platform joins together six key elements of: water, food, biodiversity, arts, agro-ecology and the concept of ‘campesino re-existence’. 

The site hosts articles, invitations to events, artistic works, cooking recipes, reflections, and much more about  páramo life, specifically in the páramos of Sumapaz and Chingaza. It is a space to share and a shared strategy, where research and researchers, creations and creators, artists, and events meet. “Materials produced in the school now have a space where they can be uploaded and disseminated.” says Carlos Cuellar, researcher and teacher in Chingaza.

Contributors to the platform can upload content directly through the website, or where internet connection is not possible a ‘bot’ delivers information from the platform and uploads contributions via WhatsApp. “Accessing the tool via WhatsApp in a much simpler way makes it much more accessible and gives us the possibility of sharing information in an easier way.” commented Nancy Bonilla, researcher and teacher in Sumapaz.

Other outcomes of the project include a children's book, CD and documentary showcasing páramo music, and several festivals of art and culture. 

The project is part of the research program “Exploring and understanding Colombian biological resources”, jointly funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) of United Kingdom Research and Innovation (UKRI) through the Newton Fund, with support from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).

For more information:

paramunos.com

Sonidos Agroecológicos YouTube channel

English translation of platform launch