Analysis of ecosystem services in Guaviare and the Colombian Pacific (IDEAS-DESIRA Project)

In 2016, the Colombian Government and the FARC signed a Peace Agreement. This agreement also established a reform of rural areas. One of the key objectives of this reform is the definition and stabilization of the Agricultural Frontier and the protection of areas of special environmental interest, to provide or support sustainable livelihoods to local communities. Despite the reform, large areas of natural tropical forest have been transformed since the disarmament of the FARC, due to land grabbing and speculation often linked to rangelands, illicit crops, extensive cattle grazing, and mining. The agricultural frontier has been defined by the Agricultural and Rural Planning Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, as the result of extensions of lands acknowledged as agricultural land before 2010. The research project "IDEAS-DESIRA Strengthening the Governance and Stabilization of the Agricultural Border in post-conflict territories of Colombia (Research and Development for the Stabilization of the Agricultural Border)" aims to contribute to the stabilization of the agricultural frontier (agroecological intensification, sustainable forest management, landscape restoration) through a common territorial vision supported by the generation of knowledge, dialogue, effective governance and innovative tools.

The research in this MSc thesis will address the study of ecosystem services provided in agricultural and forested areas, around the Agricultural Frontier. This research will be conducted within the project IDEAS-DESIRA, coordinated by ONFA, and could be done in close collaboration with a Colombian University (PUJ).

Students requirements:  Fluency in Spanish

Start: Flexible; to be agreed upon with supervisor