Title
Sustainability of the Venezuelan Andean landscape. Priorities in territorial emergencies in water conservation
Author(s)
Isaac, G.;López José, R.;Nubis, P.;Zuleima, M.
Published
2013
Publisher
Sustentabilidad de los paisajes andinos de Venezuela. Emergencias territoriales prioritarias en la conservación del agua
Abstract
The Venezuelan Andean landscapes are made up of a very diverse mosaic of weather, land, vegetation and cultural elements due to elevation differences, geological origin and topography as well as to the history of human settlements. This large landscape is related to an important hydric resource. However, the quality and quantity of water are closely related to the conservation of the remnants of wild forest, moor of the region. The decrease of this coverage could jeopardise the water resources and, with that loss, the continuity of human activity and ecological processes; that is, the viability of the landscape as we know it today. This paper evaluates the changes in land coverage and urban population in the Andean region of Merida between 1988 and 2001. The results show an important loss of wild coverage, revealing a landscape that is progressively fragmented, that could have problems for the sustainability of ecological processes with important impact on water resources. Even though this work cannot precisely identify the emergency that water deserves as an environmental service, we do identify the two basins that currently reveal the most dynamic intervention processes that could quickly lead to an urgent situation concerning the availability of water.
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PUB14016