Indicators of the impact of climate change on andean family agriculture in Colombia

Abstract

The climate change impact assessment models used in Colombian agriculture have focused on technified crops, planted in large areas, ignoring the fact that 67% of national food production comes from small extensions of polycultures, most of which are grown on slopes of the Andean mountain range, by 3.5 million farmers and which provide 57% of rural employment. This article is derived from an analysis of the methodology used by the authors in the research project entitled "Economic, environmental and social impacts of climate change on the agricultural sector in the Municipality of Bochalema, Norte de Santander Department, Colombia, funded by the University of Santander (UDES) and covering the period from January 2017 to May 2018. After analyzing different models of environmental impact assessment, the OECD's Pressure, State, Response (PER) model was selected, after adaptation to the specific characteristics of small subsistence agricultural production units. The multidimensionality and complexity of factors related to climate, production, resources, technologies, families and public policies were highlighted, which require the construction of contextualized indicators for Andean family agriculture.