Análisis de la evolución litoral y respuesta de las comunidades afro-descendientes asentadas en la zona costera: caso de estudio La Barra, Buenaventura, Pacífico Colombiano

Abstract

En el poblado de La Barra, Buenaventura (Colombia), desde el año 2013 inició un proceso de avulsión hacia el mar del estero Arrastradero, asociado a este evento se pudo medir un acelerado proceso de erosión costera que afectó el poblado en general. Con el fin de comprobar la hipótesis de que la dinámica litoral determina no solo la morfología de la costa sino también la dinámica poblacional, se evaluó la vulnerabilidad por erosión costera de la población, la evolución histórica y reciente de la línea de costa y de la espiga litoral y la evolución en la localización de las viviendas. Se determinó que antes del fenómeno de erosión actual la zona ya había sufrido varios procesos de cambio, que impactaron la dinámica poblacional. Durante el periodo de estudio (2013 a 2015), los meses de mayor cambio en línea de costa fueron entre marzo y mayo de 2014, siendo este el año de mayor retroceso. Adicionalmente, asociado a estos cambios, la vulnerabilidad de la población se incrementó de 2013 a 2014. Finalmente, se puede concluir que un importante valor de adaptación de las comunidades afrodescendientes del Pacífico a los riesgos costeros, es el pensamiento colectivo y sus prácticas ancestrales que marcan su movilidad alrededor de las dinámicas naturales de su entorno, haciéndolas más resilientes, es decir, cultura como estrategia de adaptación al medio (ecología cultural).

Evaluation of Coastal Erosion in the Watersheds of Municipality of Buenaventura, Colombia: Using Geospatial Techniques and the Composite Vulnerability Index

“…This study used the COVI to estimate spatial vulnerability to coastal erosion through an analysis of coastal watersheds. The vulnerability in the Buenaventura area has been characterized by previous studies [13,[20][21][22]31,32]. However, an evaluation of its vulnerability to multiple risks and physical, environmental, and socioeconomic parameters, such as the COVI, has received minimal attention in studies on the coastal zone of Buenaventura.…”

“…Subsequently, the CVI was used to assess vulnerability along the Atlantic coast by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) in the study of Thieler and Hammar-Klose [18]. In the analysis of coastline change, some studies focused on analyzing the geomorphological and physical factors of the CVI but also included socioeconomic variables to develop resilience to the threats of climate change [19][20][21][22][23][24]. The state of vulnerability can be determined based on a group of conditions and processes resulting from physical, environmental, and socioeconomic factors that increase the susceptibility of people living in coastal areas to natural hazards, including their ability to adapt and respond to disasters [25,26].…”

“…Finally, Furlan et al [30] developed a multidimensional CVI to evaluate vulnerability to flood scenarios along the Italian coast considering multiple indicators. Although there are studies that evaluate the general vulnerability of the coasts of Buenaventura [13,21,22,31,32], these have focused mainly on geomorphological and physical dimensions. Numerous studies have been conducted around the world to examine different aspects of coastal vulnerability with a geospatial approach using the CVI and COVI (Table 1).…”

“…Regarding studies of the coastal zone of Buenaventura related to vulnerability, the study by Ricaurte et al, 2021 [11] stands out, where the dominance of each component of the threat in the Colombian Pacific region was analyzed and it was established that it is determined by fragility, mainly social, economic, and institutional. Coca and Ricaurte 2019 [21] studied the town of La Barra since 2013, when a process of avulsion towards the sea began; associated with this event, an accelerated coastal erosion process could be measured, where the vulnerability of the population was evaluated. Gallego and Selvaraj 2019 [22] applied the coastal vulnerability index (CVI) using eight variables, three physical/hydrodynamic, three geological/geomorphological, and two socioeconomic variables.…”

Understanding the impact of hydrodynamics on coastal erosion in Latin America: a systematic review

“…It also includes the generation of information through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to obtain high-resolution images and videos of the beach conditions (Parise et al, 2009). These tools are used in conjunction with global positioning systems (DGPS and GPS) to obtain the precise position of the beach line, which can subsequently be compared with historical cartographic data (Dillenburg et al, 2004;Esteves et al, 2006;Fernandez et al, 2011;Coca-Domínguez and Ricaurte-Villota, 2019;Martínez et al, 2022). They also include the use of Lidar to obtain high-resolution data of the topography of the area and field surveys to know the perception of the population and data related to impacts on infrastructures (Cueto et al, 2022;Simões FIGURE 14 Methods, tools, and data sources identified as relevant in the 62 case studies.…”