Turismo Comunitario y Paz Socioambiental en Agua Bonita 2 (Caquetá, Colombia): Una Historia Ambiental Reciente del Posconflicto Amazónico

Iván Yesid  Salazar  Penna; Esther Julia  Olaya-Marín; Sergio Andrés  Salazar Galán

doi:10.32991/2237-2717.2026v16i3.p519-555

Authors

Iván Yesid Salazar Penna Universidad de la Amazonia (Colombia) https://orcid.org/0009-0007-6435-2098
Esther Julia Olaya-Marín Universidad de la Amazonia (Colombia) https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5819-2477
Sergio Andrés Salazar Galán Universidad Pablo de Olavide (España) https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2463-1790

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.32991/2237-2717.2026v16i3.p519-555

Keywords:

community-based tourism, socio-environmental peace, post-conflict, recent environmental history, Colombian Amazon

Abstract

This article critically examines how community-based tourism has become embedded in the social, territorial, and environmental reorganization of Agua Bonita 2, located in La Montañita, Caquetá, since 2017, and explores its contributions, tensions, and limitations in the construction of socio-environmental peace. A qualitative-interpretive study was conducted using a Participatory Action Research approach and a single instrumental case study design. Data were collected between April and July 2025 through six semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and documentary analysis, and were examined through inductive-deductive thematic coding supported by ATLAS.ti. The findings show that community organization, productive initiatives, and practices of territorial appropriation preceded the consolidation of tourism; therefore, tourism cannot be regarded as the origin of social cohesion. Rather, the evidence points to a bidirectional relationship: pre-existing collective capacities facilitated the development of tourism, while tourism subsequently created new opportunities to articulate local enterprises, make community memories visible, strengthen external linkages, and promote environmental care practices. However, important limitations remain, including the partial distribution of benefits, training and funding needs, institutional dependence, carrying-capacity constraints, and the risk of commodifying memory. The study concludes that socio-environmental peace should be understood as a situated, dynamic, and contested process in which tourism may contribute to reconciliation, territorial valorization, and sustainability, but cannot by itself guarantee peace.

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