Analysis of the littoral evolution and response of the afro-descendant communities settled in the coastal zone: case study La Barra, Buenaventura, Colombian Pacific
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In the town of La Barra, Buenaventura (Colombia), since 2013, it started a process of avulsion towards the sea of the Arrastradero tidal channel (estero), associated with this event, an accelerated process of coastal erosion that affected the town in general was measured. In order to test the hypothesis that coastal dynamics determines not only the morphology of the coast but also the population dynamics, vulnerability by coastal erosion of the population was assessed, the historical and recent evolution of the coastline and the littoral spit and also the evolution in the location of houses. It was determined that before the current erosion phenomenon the area had already undergone several processes of change, which impacted the population dynamics. During the study period (2013 to 2015), the months of greatest change in the coastline were between March and May 2014, this being the year of greatest decline. Additionally, associated with these changes, the vulnerability of the population increased from 2013 to 2014. Finally, it can be concluded that an important adaptation value of Afro-descendant communities in the Pacific to coastal risks is the collective thinking and its ancestral practices, that mark its mobility around the natural dynamics of their environment, making them more resilient, that is, culture as a strategy of adaptation to the environment (cultural ecology).