Protection of Our Wasteland or Our Peasants. The Potato Reality of Boyacá, Colombia

Abstract

The Department of Boyacá, Colombia, houses one of the most important ecosystems for humanity, the wasteland. 19% of the wasteland areas are found in this department, which is characterized by being the home of unique or endemic species, providing ecosystem services of mitigation and adaptation to change climate, they are sources of fresh water and regulate the water cycle. However, there is the problem of the loss of the territory of wasteland, as a result of the expansion of the agricultural frontier as a result of the cultural practice of planting potatoes (Solanum tuberosum), burning of endemic vegetation and deforestation or reforestation with foreign species. ; because its supply and demand is very high in the country and covers 24% or more of the national production; This activity is carried out by around 50,000 thousand producers, mostly peasant families. The development of this activity devastates 1,000 hectares of wasteland, affecting endemic species of fauna and flora such as the frailejones (Espeletia) mainly in the species Espeletia lopezzi and Espelieta incana important in the collection of rainwater and supply of hydrographic basins. This article discusses the socio-environmental concerns of the development of agricultural activities, in the moors that are the daily sustenance of numerous peasant families.