Abstract

SEVILLA-CALLEJO, Miguel  and  MATA-OLMO, Rafael. Introduction to land dynamics in eastern Cotapata Natural Protected Area (La Paz, Bolivia). Ecología en Bolivia [online]. 2007, vol.42, n.1, pp.34-47. ISSN 1605-2528.

Since its creation, Cotapata Natural Protected Area is affected by the construction of Cotapata-Santa Bárbara road. The new road is included in the regional policies for the connection between the Amazon Basin and the Pacific Coast and is the origin of important environmental and socioeconomic impacts. Indeed it is transforming the land reality. The fieldwork, satellite and aerial images, digital cartography, archive documentation and GIS integration were the methodologies used to analyze the new dynamics. The new road has enhanced the very active slope dynamics. Besides, the accessibility improvement has promoted other important land processes: agriculture frontier advance, generation of a new kind of peasantry linked to the urban area and emerging of land speculation activities. Thus, the problems of land tenure and the stresses between conservation and development are becoming more relevant than in the past. The recent management documents should involve the local people and guarantee their future and the rich environmental, social and cultural patrimony.

Keywords : Cotapata national park; Land dynamics; Land use; Peasantry; Transport infrastructures.

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