Development through Heritage: Colombia’s Coffee Cultural Landscape as a reference for a new Valle del Cauca Landscape Initiative

One fascinating element that characterizes landscapes is the intricate relationship between human-made and natural systems, which, when integrated, can foster new ecological relationships or unique vernacular cultures adapted to their environment. It is this special relationship between nature and humanity that UNESCO defines as Cultural Landscapes. Due to their composition, these landscapes are subject to specific risks, conditions, and opportunities related to a variety of factors, such as environmental conditions, historical backgrounds, or socio-economic dynamics, which are often organized in large territories in complex systemic structures. Therefore, after the recognition of cultural landscape as a typology of heritage in 1994, many societies have worked to identify, conserve, and valorize cultural landscapes within their territories. One example is Colombia, which in 2011 achieved the UNESCO recognition of the Coffee Cultural Landscape (CCLC), consolidating one of the country’s most successful heritage valorization initiatives. This effort has produced important benefits both locally, for communities and ecosystems, as well as nationally and even internationally. However, in 2024, just a few kilometers from the municipalities that form the core of the CCLC, the proposal for a new cultural landscape in the southwest of the Colombian region of Valle del Cauca sparked significant controversy. Despite complex contradictions, especially due to the way in which the initiative was presented, this scenario could potentially contribute to the solution of existing historical regional issues. For this reason, the research analyzes this new cultural landscape initiative through the experiences of the CCLC, in order to discover the way in which these difficulties can be transformed into opportunities to consolidate, valorize and promote heritage role as a development tool in the southwest of Valle del Cauca region in Colombia.