EMOTIONAL AND PERSONAL FACTORS OF ADAPTABILITY OF THE POPULATION IN THE ECUADORIAN ANDES

The multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary principle has been applied to understand and interpret the perception and adaptability of the high Andes population to the climatic variability. The study is centered on several communities of the three ethno-cultural groups in Ecuador: Puruhas, Kayambis and Otavalos, linked to the two geographic sceneries, from 2600m a.s.l. up to the summit of volcanoes. The information has been collected and the climatic variability along the last 30 years is analyzed, the dynamics of land use and natural vegetal covering of the two last decades have been interpreted (verified data and information), and data from real environment have been compared with the information obtained from the conversations, conducting surveys (perceived environment and people’s answers) and psychological tests (behavior and analysis of adaptability). The study takes the perspective that adaptability is linked with the emotional and personal characteristics of the resilience of one person or one group. The capacity to get related with the environment, to take the greatest advantage from what is necessary in order to satisfy their needs, is a process through which the communities assimilate new ways of survival and, consequently, they adapt themselves to new situations. Studying these characteristics in a certain ethno-cultural group was the object of this study, and, in this paper we will show some of the characteristics as an attempt to make a possible model of the adaptational potential of the inhabitants of these groups in condition of hazard, and their possible vulnerability.