Can Community Resettlement be Considered a Resilient Move? Insights from a Slow-Onset Disaster in the Colombian Andes

Abstract

The degree to which communities can best withstand various forms of external stress, as well as what constitutes community resilience has been a matter of debate in discussions of development, resilience building, adaptation and transformation. Drawing on insights from a field expedition to the indigenous reserve of Aponte in the Colombian Andes, this paper engages with the concept of transformational- and community resilience and problematizes the concept focusing particularly on its tendency to assume that disasters are one-off, sudden events that allow for sustainable recovery in their aftermath. Aponte faces complete ruination by a slow-onset geological hazard which has prompted discussions of relocation among other solutions – raising questions of whether and how resilience can be understood in the context of perpetually worsening conditions of environmental change.

Acknowledgements

I wish to thank the UNDP for organising the field expedition to Aponte in 2016. I also wish to thank David Alexander for his useful reflections on the nature of the geological phenomenon. Further, I would like to thank Oscar A. Staupe-Delgado and Gelvin W. Herrera for their help at various stages of the process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The field expedition was organised by the Nariño, Cauca y Putumayo regional office of the UNDP; however, this study does not reflect the views of the UNDP.

2. This description of the early onset of the disaster in Aponte is based on a synthesis of news articles and recorded broadcasts from RCN Radio, CNC Noticias Pasto and El Tiempo. These accounts are consistent with those provided by UNDP and the Inga we spoke to during the expedition.

3. Translated from a CNC Noticias Pasto broadcast on 18 January 2016.