Patrimonio y paisajes culturales en el territorio andino, los páramos suramericanos y el Altiplano Cundiboyacense de Colombia

This documentary analysis examines the diverse ways of understanding and interpreting the concept of landscape in relation to cultural heritage in Andean territories, such as South American paramos and the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in Colombia, during the last decade (2010–2020). Differences are identified in the dynamics in the spaces declared as cultural landscapes, influenced by how they are lived, inhabited, and traveled through, as well as by the initiatives that regulate their protection and safeguarding. In the paramos of South America, there is tension between environmental and governmental institutions and the community organizations that inhabit them, due to the specific conditions of these territories as environmental reserves. These territories, making up 2% of the planet’s territory, are characterized by their water sources and require special attention. However, to date, they have not been sufficiently protected against mining exploitation, tourism as the main economic activity, and the extension of the agricultural frontier, in addition to the lack of recognition of the communities inhabiting them. Currently, the aim is to reach an agreement among the different parties and reconcile a co-responsible interrelationship to guarantee their protection by integrating Indigenous and peasant environmental dynamics that are still unknown as intangible cultural heritage of these environments. In the Colombian Altiplano Cundiboyacense, home to 50% of the paramos, various initiatives have been implemented to harmonize government legislation with the forms of social organization of the communities living there. These initiatives have the potential to strengthen new economies based on the richness of the territory, the ecosystem, and the knowledge of its inhabitants, constituting alternatives in the fight against climate change. However, the lack of articulation of socio-cultural dynamics has prevented their consolidation.