Volltext-Downloads (blau) und Frontdoor-Views (grau)
  • search hit 1 of 1
Back to Result List

Mountain Communities’ Perception of Climate Change Adaptation, Disaster Risk Reduction and Ecosystem-Based Solutions in the Chicón Watershed, Peru

  • Located in the Urubamba mountain range, the Chicón glacier is the third highest tropical glacier of this area and the source of water for the Chicón watershed. Moreover, from this watershed four communities obtain water for human consumption and agriculture, which is their main economic activity. In the last years glacier retreat is evident in the area and threatens the livelihoods of the people because it affects the availability of fresh water. The general objective of this research is to analyse the perception of people living in this watershed to climate change, disaster risk, and ecosystem-based solutions. The specific objectives are to identify natural hazards and climate change effects in the community, to recognise potential ecosystem services suitable for Ecosystem-based Adaptation (EbA) and Ecosystem-based Disaster Risk Reduction (Eco-DRR), and to assess to which climate change effects and disasters the communities are vulnerable based on their own perception. The methodological steps are based on literature review, expert interviews, questionnaires to the community, a workshop and field observations. The results show that people perceive changes in the climate such as increase in temperature, less precipitation and shifts of the rainy and the dry season. The climate-related disasters that were identified are Glacier Lake Outburst Flood (GLOF), droughts, frosts and hailstorms. However, GLOFs are not frequent in the area and drought is the hazard that people consider will be more frequent. Additionally, pests were identified as biological hazards. Several ecosystems services can be obtained for EbA and Eco-DRR from forests, especially if native trees such as Qiwiña (Polylepis spp.), Chachacoma (Escallonia resinosa) and Aliso (Alnus jorullensis) are used in ecosystem management. Finally, the hypothesis was partially accepted since people in the study area are to some extent aware of climate change impacts, but only partially understand causes and effects. Further, they recognize most of the ecosystem services that forests provide. Therefore they are starting to implement ecosystem-based solutions in the watershed with the support of external institutions.

Download full text files

Export metadata

Additional Services

Search Google Scholar

Statistics

frontdoor_oas
Metadaten
Author:Yaremi Karina Cruz Rivera
URN:urn:nbn:de:hbz:832-epub4-10577
Document Type:Master's Thesis
Language:English
Publishing Institution:Hochschulbibliothek der Technischen Hochschule Köln
Granting Institution:Technische Hochschule Köln
Date of Publication (online):2017/09/14
Page Number:91
Institutes:Fakultät für Raumentwicklung und Infrastruktursysteme (F12) / Fakultät 12 / Institut für Technologie und Ressourcenmanagement in den Tropen und Subtropen
CCS-Classification:A. General Literature
Dewey Decimal Classification:600 Technik, Medizin, angewandte Wissenschaften
JEL-Classification:Q Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics
Open Access:Open Access
Licence (German):License LogoCreative Commons - Namensnennung-Nicht kommerziell