Plan de ordenamiento territorial de los páramos del cantón Cuenca

The proposed study focuses on the formulation of a Land Managing Plan for the area of the moor of Cuenca Canton, aiming to reach a contribution to the protection of a highly fragile ecosystem to changes caused by anthropic activities and to changes in the use of the land; it is important to highlight the fact that the environmental water service provided is used by a high percentage of the canton’s population that is located downstream of the area of the plan’s application. The greatest damage to this important water reserve is generated by the increase in the residential population, intensified tourism, agriculture and livestock. This situation could get worse with an implementation of uses with more environmental conflict such as the mining activity. In general, the moor area of Cuenca Canton evidences a degradation process, because of the activities described that cause overgrazing, forest loss in height, reduction of the water holding capacity of the moors and consequently a change in their natural conditions. As a tool to regulate this degradation process, it is proposed to build a Land Managing Plan based on a diagnosis that contains a description and analysis of each component of the territorial system, inputs that are synthesized in the integrated diagnostics, the instance in which the current model is analyzed, the problems and the area’s potential. The planning phase includes a SWOT analysis (analysis of Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats) of the spatial reality and foresight through the structure of established scenarios that aim to propose alternatives that allow us to build a territorial model in which the land managing proposal will be captured; finally, the management of the organizational structure and the rules to regulate the intervention in the implementation of the plan’s application area will be defined.