**7. Recognitions**

I express my gratitude to the communities and social organizations of peasants and community aqueducts of the municipalities of Paipa and Sotaquirá in the departments of Boyacá, Cundinamarca, Santander, and Tolima, who have taught me many of their expressions, knowledge, and customs about life in the mountains, to my parents who educated me recognizing the peasant wisdom to the following universities: Universidad El Bosque, Universidad del Tolima, Universidad P edagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, and Universidad de Cundinamarca, for having given me the opportunity to investigate with the research groups and with the students the environmental realities of the population of the high Andean equatorial mountains and Alegría Fonseca, Margarita Marino de Botero and Julio Carrizosa Umaña for opening spaces for me to investigate, publicize and publish the results of several investigations on the high Andean mountains in the last 30 years. To INDERENA, for having been the cradle for 10 years of my concerns as an environmental researcher.
