HUMAN-DEVELOPMENT AND ENVIRONMENT IN THE ANDES - A GEOECOLOGICAL OVERVIEW

The natural environment and human development and culture are closely related. The basic physical features of relief, climate, and soil and the biological resources of flora and fauna were important factors tha t influenced early human evolution, expansion, and development. In Lat in America, the geoecological features gave rise to horizontal and ver tical differentiation. Two examples are examined. In Mexico between 16 00 B.C. and A.D. 1500 climatic changes resulted in population fluctuat ions, varying degrees of environmental damage, and cultivation change from dryland farming to irrigated fields. The system of subsistence of the Callawaya people in Bolivia is adapted to the environment and eac h family owns land in all altitudinal belts between 3,000 and 4,300 m, so that they are almost self-sufficient and risks of food shortage ar e minimized. Today, population pressure, on the one hand, and migratio n to the cities, on the other, have undermined traditional land use. S ocioeconomic change in rural mountain areas is inevitable and a balanc e should be maintained between preservation of traditional, though les s productive, systems and the modernization and improvement of the sta ndards of living of mountain people.