Towards a landscape-metabolism model for the tropical Andes. Application in the metropolitan region of Cali (Colombia)

Abstract

We hypothesize that biocultural landscapes configured by indigenous, peasant, and afro traditional agricultural systems, significantly contribute to the ecological functionality of the metropolitan region of Cali (Colombia). Current landscapes reflect an ongoing local transition from organic-based agriculture to an industrial one that began in the first half of the 20th century. This transition has happened within a complex sociopolitical and cultural context in which the rural livelihoods are at a crossroads with regional agroindustry development. We propose an integrated landscape-metabolism assessment based on georeferenced farm system typologies (local scale) and the region's land cover data (landscape scale). The results expose the rupture between society (sociometabolic flows) and nature (ecological processes) in this metropolitan region driven by land-use intensification. Our findings support the hypothesis of the contribution of biocultural landscapes to the region's ecological functioning, and that show that agroforestry mosaics can offer promising contributions to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services provision in metropolitan regions.This landscape-metabolism assessment offers an opportunity to enrich intersectoral land policy formulation for highly biological and culturally diverse regions where agriculture constitutes a fundamental pillar to its economy, the local culture, and rural livelihoods. Given the confluence of the Colombian post-conflict implementation agenda, the global (un)sustainability crisis, and the UN development goals, there is a need to bring biocultural landscapes into a broader interdisciplinary dialog and evaluate the sustainability, political feasibility, and social desirability of current agricultural development