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MARIA PATRICIA OBANDO ENRIQUEZ
MAG. GESTION AMBIENTAL Y DESARROLLO SOSTENIBLE
Los bosques protegen los suelos, estabilizan los climas locales y proporcionan
albergues propios para gran diversidad y riqueza de la flora y fauna del planeta, la
deforestación que ocasiona la producción de carbón, ha provocado devastadoras
pérdidas que afectan la biodiversidad del planeta. Este debería ser el principal
argumento para que se tomen decisiones y se planten estrategias que permitan
proteger los remanentes de bosque natural para la producción de carbón vegetal, es así
como se hace necesario el cambio de actividad económica para las familias dedicadas a
la explotación del bosque nativo.
El proceso de quema dura trece días aproximadamente, en los cuales una parte la
dedican a la carbonera y otras actividades como la agricultura, la ganadería, la
piscicultura, entre otras. Después de ser explotado el bosque para la producción de
carbón vegetal, los carboneros establecen cultivos para adecuar el terreno y establecer
pastos naturales para posteriormente introducir ganado, crianza de especies menores y
parte de la parcela queda establecida para la agricultura y siembra de especies arbóreas.
Las anteriores actividades muestran que los carboneros tienen los recursos
disponibles para realizar otras actividades económicas que les permiten mejorar sus
ingresos como son: implementar la agroindustria de: plantas aromáticas, mora, leche,
cebolla crianza de especies menores como el Cuy, el turismo rural sostenible y el
establecimiento de especies dendroenergeticas, mejorando así la calidad de vida de las
familias carboneras y disminuyendo el impacto generado sobre el bosque.
ABSTRACT
Economic alternatives of sustainable production for the coal mining families of Encano, a
small town in the municipality of Pasto — department of Nariño —Colombia
In the two last centuries deforestation has reached enormous proportions, thirty-
one percent of the native forests of Colombia have been devastated. The statistical data
on deforestation and exhaustion of Colombian forests shows that the exploitation of
natural forestlands through new lands for agro-business, the advancement of civil works,
and the illicit cultivation of lands, means a decrease in the original woodland cover of the
country.
The forests protect the natural habitat, stabilize local climates and provide shelter
for the great diversity of flora and fauna on the planet; deforestation caused by the
production of coal has had a devastating effect on the biodiversity of the planet. This is
the main argument in the ongoing discussions and decision making strategies needed in
order to protect the remainder of the natural forests from the devastating effects of coal
production, as well as being necessary to change the economic activities of families
dedicated to the exploitation of natural forestlands.
The objective of this investigation, carried out during 2010, was to find economic
alternatives of a more adequate and sustainable production, rather than contribute to the
displacement of coal activity. As a source of information the families who mine coal in the
small town of Encano are referenced, as they accord with the descriptive type and features
of the quantitative paradigm.
The families’ coal activity is carried out twice monthly, which constitutes only a part
of their labor capacity. Coal processing takes up approximately thirteen days, the
remainder of their time is dedicated to other activities such as agriculture, stockbreeding,
fish farming, etc. After exploiting the forest for the production of coal, the coalminers adapt
the land by the establishment of pastures for the subsequent introduction of cattle,
breeding of smaller species of animals, and agriculture uses such as the sowing of
arboreal species.
The above activities show that the coalmen have available resources to carry out
other economic activities that permit them to improve their incomes, such as the
implementation of agro-industries: the cultivation of blackberries, aromatic plants, milk, the
breeding of smaller species of animals, such as the raising of guinea pigs, rural tourism
and the establishment of [dendroenergeticas] species, thus improving the quality of life of
the coal families and diminishing the degenerative impact on the forestlands.