Andean mountain regions face accelerating pressures from
deforestation, ecological degradation, and climate change, yet policymakers
often lack integrated tools to evaluate long‑term, cross-sector sustainability
strategies. This study develops and validates a system dynamics model that
integrates environmental, economic, social, and institutional subsystems to
assess the effectiveness of policy interventions in the Quindío Department of
Colombia over 2025–2055. The framework provides a practical decision-support
tool for governments by identifying high-impact leverage points, particularly
reforestation policies and institutional strengthening and quantifying their
effects on forest conservation, poverty reduction, carbon capture, and economic
growth. Results show that Sustainable Transformation policies deliver a 6.8:1
return on investment, substantially increase forest cover and ecosystem
integrity, and reduce poverty by 44.4 percentage points, demonstrating that
coordinated sustainability packages generate synergistic rather than trade-off
outcomes. The model’s rigorous validation, sensitivity analysis, and
scenario-based outputs equip regional authorities with actionable evidence for
prioritising investments, sequencing interventions, and implementing adaptive
management under uncertainty. Because the framework is modular, data-driven,
and grounded in global standards (IPCC, SEEA-EA, MEA), it can be readily
adapted and transferred to other mountainous socio-ecological systems worldwide
to support sustainability policy design.
Author(s) Details
Javier Burgos-Salcedo
Environmental Engineering, Fundación Universitaria San Mateo, Bogotá,
Colombia and Corporación Para la Investigación y la Innovación–CIINAS,
Zipaquirá, Colombia.
Carolina Sierra
Corporación Para la Investigación y la Innovación–CIINAS, Zipaquirá,
Colombia.
Please see the book here :- https://doi.org/10.9734/bpi/crgese/v6/7188
