Communities in tropical regions along the Andean Cordillera in South America face an uncertain future, as mountain lakes and snow peaks exhibit receding trends and strong fluctuations associated with climatic drivers (i.e., ENSO and climate change) and local human activities. Such fluctuations are apparent in Colombia, where these changes will have direct impact on strategic ecosystems such as the Orinoco and Amazon basins and the highly populated Cauca and Magdalena River basins. Therefore, understanding how these water systems evolve in the near future is of critical importance for the communities that depend on them for their survival.
This project aims at developing a long-term monitoring of the evolution of three natural water bodies: Colombia´s two main Andean lakes (Tota and Cocha) and the floodplain wetland of Ayapel. These natural reservoirs not only represent the accumulated effect of hydrological processes in their respective basins but also serve as examples of highly intervened environments from which several rural and urban communities derive their water resources and develop their economic activities. This project gathered data about the studied areas by contacting local, national, and international agencies for technical reports, census information, hydrologic databases, and remote sensing imagery. The information gathered, as well as gauges installed at the lakes and visits to record geographical, geophysical, and socio-economic data, were the basis of models that describe the evolution of these wetlands. The results are available through technical and scientific papers as well as a website to be designed to offer easy access to geographically integrated and updated information, useful for all interested parties locally and worldwide. The project should facilitate the development of improved models to determine the lakes stages as a function of climate and human uses to support future decisions by the communities involved.
Lake Tota is the largest Andean lake of glacial origin in Colombia. With a water surface of about 60 km2 and depths between 2 m and 60 m, Lake Tota has a long history of human interventions that dates back to indigenous people and continues today with the communities that develop their economic activities (mainly onion agriculture, tourism, livestock and fish-farming). The Lake is the source of multiple aqueducts and the main supply of the city of Sogamoso as well as of industrial processes such as "Acerías Paz del Río." The interest in the environmental and hydrological future of the Lake has increased in recent years, mainly due to the potential impacts of climate variability and socio-economic activities that depend on the lake. The Lake has experienced critical declines that are normally associated with El Niño, but also the result of water management practices in the basin. The PEER project is interested in modelling the impacts of climate change and human interventions in the hydrological and environmental future of Lake Tota, incorporating the dynamics of different stakeholders involved in the use of the Lake waters, under different climate change scenarios.
González y Cañón (2016). Impactos de la variabilidad climática y las actividades humanas en la dinámica hidrológica del lago de Tota
La Cocha is, in extension, the second natural Andean lake in the Colombian territory. Located in the department of Nariño, with a water surface of 45 km2, the Lake is part of the Ramsar Convention, as a sanctuary for migratory birds. Agriculture, tourism and fish farming are controlled activities within La Cocha. The Municipality of El Encano, which is located within the basin, is the main contributor of nutrients to the Lake. For its protected status, La Cocha represents a reference case to understand the effects of climate variability in a low intervened environment that allows to compare its evolution with other Andean lakes such as like Lake Tota. The PEER project is interested in modeling the hydrology of La Cocha, understanding the correlation with ENSO and PDO indices and projecting its future under different climate change scenarios.
The Floodplain Cienaga of Ayapel is part of a large complex of marshes and wetlands located in the Momposina depression on flats and floodable areas of the department of Cordoba, between the Cauca and San Jorge rivers. The Cienaga's extension varies throughout the year, due to local rainfall and evaporation patterns that changes the level and volume following a natural flooding pulse. This pulse is associated with diverse ecosystems and socio-economic activities such as fishing, livestock, agriculture, and tourism. There is a growing concern about the future of the Cienaga and its ecosystems, mainly due of the boom of gold mining activities that use mercury, and due to changes in the flooding regime due to engineering interventions along the Cauca river. The PEER project is interested in modeling the behavior of the Cienaga under different scenarios of climate and environmental change, including the actors that affect or are affected by the changes in the flooding pulse.