The Andean countries present a great variety of landscapes and environmental challenges. Deserts and coastal beaches, mountains and plateaus, forests, moors, all constitute biodiversity rich ecosystems that have been the object of conservation and rational use initiatives considering the high climatic vulnerability of the region. This axis will explore the impact of social and socio-economic processes on the environment, as well as the influence of climate and environmental transformations on the societies of the region. In this way, we seek to analyze the policies and institutions dedicated to environmental protection, mechanisms of environmental compensation and associated ecosystem dynamics. It also seeks to study more sustainable forms of provision of services in rural and urban areas.

The focus will be on four thematic areas:

• Processes of valorization of the nature.
• Knowledge and technologies for sustainable land and water management and use.
• Policies of natures / environments: scales, actors, conflicts.
• The role of natural systems for the maintenance of eco-systems.