Qualitative indicators for community water resilience in floodable areas: Agricultural pantry of La Mojana, Colombia

Abstract

The subregion of La Mojana is a national geostrategic region. It includes the basins of the rivers Magdalena, Cauca, and San Jorge. This location has abundant wetlands, zapales (particular marshes from the region), and swamps where there are cyclical floodings and droughts. This region is also considered to be a great reservoir of freshwater, very rich in biodiversity and a place with productive wetlands. It is considered a food reservoir, and despite its cattle-raising tradition, 20% of the rice consumed in Colombia is cultivated here. In addition, it consists of water and land ecosystems that stimulate an agricultural, cattle raising and fishery base: productive fields which generate 90% of the economic productivity of the area.Between 2021 and 2022, frequent and historical floodings affected 24253 acres of agricultural land, especially the 9633.2 acres of rice crops. There has also been registered some damage to other production units such as corn (645.2 acres), plantain (194.5 acres), cows (6757), pigs (6083), horses (603), poultry (40287), and more than 550000 fish. According to the Register of Victims (Registro Único de Damnificados, in Spanish), no less than 45000 people were affected by the winter wave in 2021.In order to achieve the objectives stated in this article, three phases will be developed: the first one involves the construction of the conceptual framework, explaining the nature of the community water resilience category and the pre-identification of the categories and dimensions that are going to be used in the construction of the indicators. In the second phase, a methodological description is established. Finally, in the third phase, an estimation of the qualitative indicators is formulated.The results will help decision makers to generate projects that minimize the damages caused by the flooding.