Analysing vulnerability: a multi-dimensional approach from Colombia’s Upper Cauca River Basin

The Agriculture, Vulnerability and Adaptation (AVA) project in Colombia's Upper Cauca River Basin is developing a comprehensive vulnerability assessment model to help the agricultural sector adapt to climate change. Moving beyond traditional biophysical models, the AVA approach integrates four dimensions: biophysical, political-institutional, economic-productive, and sociocultural. This interdisciplinary and participatory method involves stakeholders—including farmers, researchers, and government authorities—to identify key indicators and collect data, ensuring the results are relevant to local needs and less sensitive to the uncertainties of climate modeling. The project aims to create a universally accessible tool for adaptation planning that can be scaled to regional or national levels.

• Colombia's agricultural sector is a major economic driver, contributing 10–14% to the National Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and supporting over 3.7 million livelihoods, but it faces significant climate risks. Up to 83% of potential agricultural lands could lose climatic suitability for 25 of the country's most important crops, with potential annual economic damages in the Andean Region reaching US$30 billion by 2025.
• The AVA project employs a four-dimensional vulnerability model to address the limitations of one-dimensional biophysical assessments. These dimensions include biophysical (e.g., water and soil resources), political-institutional (e.g., governance and legal frameworks), economic-productive (e.g., land use and employment), and sociocultural (e.g., health and migration) factors.

APA

Peterson, C., Nowak, A., Jarvis, A., Navarrete, C., Figueroa, A., Riano, N., & Vargas, J. (2012). Analysing vulnerability: a multi-dimensional approach from Colombia’s Upper Cauca River Basin. Climate and Development Knowledge Network. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Colombia-InsideStory.pdf

Chicago

Peterson, Caitlin, Andreea Nowak, Andy Jarvis, Carolina Navarrete, Apolinar Figueroa, Nestor Riano, and Julio Vargas. Analysing vulnerability: a multi-dimensional approach from Colombia’s Upper Cauca River Basin. Climate and Development Knowledge Network, 2012. http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Colombia-InsideStory.pdf.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{peterson2012analysing, author = {Peterson, Caitlin and Nowak, Andreea and Jarvis, Andy and Navarrete, Carolina and Figueroa, Apolinar and Riano, Nestor and Vargas, Julio}, title = {{Analysing vulnerability: a multi-dimensional approach from Colombia’s Upper Cauca River Basin}}, institution = {Climate and Development Knowledge Network}, year = {2012}, month = nov, url = {http://cdkn.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Colombia-InsideStory.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }