AT THE TOP OF THE MOUNTAINS

Posted by J Serrano

1 December 2021

By: Julieth Serrano and Monica Amador

At the top of the mountains gathered more than 60 attendees including undergraduate and postgraduate students, senior researchers, and representatives from NERC and ColombiaBio. During this public engagement event we used short films, storytelling and interactive games to highlight the importance of high altitude ecosystems in the Andes to halt the effects of climate change, and for the provision of freshwater to megacities.

: In-person audience

: Interactive games

: Andean vegetation

: Hybrid event

: Virtual audience

“The event was brilliant. I learned a lot of the Andean ecosystems. It was nice to have different viewpoints and different perspectives. The games were fun and good to visualise the impacts of climate changes in the ecosystems…” anonymous attendee

At the top of the mountains took place on 18^th November 2021, in person at the University of Exeter, and online via Zoom. We opened the afternoon by releasing a short animated film about water consumption in megacities, water production in Paramo, and sustainable agriculture in the high Andean forest and Paramo of Colombia. This video was made in collaboration with local communities and the production company CasaTarantula.

“Thank you, very nice and visually very easy to digest and understand” anonymous attendee

In the second block of At the top of the mountains, the internationally recognised researchers Dunia Urrego, Ted Feldpausch and Toby Pennington shared personal experiences that provided to our audience a closer view to the working life of multidisciplinar scientists.

“Awesome, really engaging event – many thanks and congratulations…” anonymous attendee

As part of the Festival of Social and Environmental Sciences and in the context of the COP26 climate change conference, we designed in collaboration with Maca Gomez-Gutierrez, the interactive games “where will the plants go” and “who would be in your conservation team”. The aim of these activities was to highlight the urgency of working towards the preservation of Paramo and high Andean forest, and the importance of inclusive conservation and governance.

“….The games were a great way to get the message of climate change threat across” anonymous attendee

“Thank you for the talks, it was very knowledgeable and I learnt lots, it has given me a wide view and even felt personal and quite inspiring” anonymous attendee

At the top of the mountains was led by Julieth Serrano and Monica Amador in representation of the BioResilience project.

We thank all the attendees, the festival of social science and environment and the economic and social research council.