Using expertise from disciplines such as economic history, biology, economics, ecology, geography, law and political science, the project aims to enhance the sustainable development of rural and dispersed communities living in tropical dry areas of Colombia.
From an economic history perspective the researchers look at how history influences decision making and how sustainability changes over time.
“It is a matter of generating data and knowledge for decision making, strengthening local capacity building within and outside rural communities, and stimulating their policy and engagement in society through education,” says Andrés Palacio.
Recently one of the researchers in the team, Giancarlo Macchi, Associate Professor in archaeology with a PhD in human geography visited us here at LUSEM. He runs the geographical dimension of the SURCO project, financed by FORMAS. Toghether he and Andrés Palacio have combined economic history with social cartography approaches to study how water scarcity has become a challenge for the survival of the indigenous and peasant communities in the project.
Macchi, who is a beneficiary of the call for funding of short-term collaboration published by the Dean's Office in February 2024, will also visit Lund next year to give a seminar lecture on Ghost Towns and empty landscapes: a GIS-based approach to analyzing historical population dynamics in peripheral areas. That seminar lecture will be open to PhD students and researchers with no prior spatial analysis and GIS knowledge.
Learn more about the project on the SURCO website.