Work

Archetypes of resilience and adaptability in high Andean farming systems facing simultaneous disturbances

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: High-Andean farming systems face simultaneous socio-environmental disturbances that challenge their resilience. Yet assessments based on average structural typologies often overlook extreme adaptation cases. This study identified farm types according to their responses to dominant stressors in La Cruz, Nariño, Colombia, and examined how these strategies align with resilience and adaptability criteria. Using data from 139 farms and participatory focus groups, we reconstructed the main territorial disturbances and developed 12 ordinal functional variables representing management and decision-making responses. Archetypal analysis identified four functional profiles explaining 84.2% of sample variance: climate-adaptive, techno-oriented, conservation-oriented, and small-diversified. Sixty-one farms aligned strongly with these reference profiles, whereas 78 showed hybrid response trajectories. Four representative archetypoids were then evaluated using ten indicators of agroecosystem resilience and adaptability. The profiles differed in their buffering and reconfiguration capacities. Climate-adaptive and conservation-oriented farms relied more strongly on water management, natural capital, and ecological regulation; techno-oriented farms emphasized productive innovation and micro-infrastructure; and small-diversified farms showed more reactive adaptation under constraints related to water access and technification. Functional diversity, response diversity, natural capital building, and autonomy or local interdependence were observed directly or partially across cases. These findings show that agroecological transitions enhance resilience unevenly and that functional archetypes complement average-based typologies by revealing distinct adaptation patterns and areas requiring targeted support.

Source: Environmental and Sustainability Indicators

DOI: 10.1016/j.indic.2026.101617

Authors: Diego Hernán Meneses-Buitrago, Martha Marina Bolaños Benavides, David Berre, Housseman Steven Ramos-Zambrano, Santiago Lopez-Ridaura, Pablo Tittonell

Institutions: Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement, Corporación Colombiana de Investigación Agropecuaria – AGROSAVIA, Centro Internacional de Mejoramiento de Maíz Y Trigo, University of Groningen

Language: English

Topic: Climate change impacts on agriculture

Subfield: Agronomy and Crop Science

Field: Agricultural and Biological Sciences

Domain: Life Sciences

SDGs: Zero hunger, Life on land

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $2,350