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The current state of Orinoquia's foothills is the result of a long history of occupation and transformation of its ecosystems. Its management poses a challenge in the search for sustainability and adaptation to global and regional changes.

Orinoquia's foothills have witnessed the rapid transitions that Colombia has experienced concerning economic, political, and social matters. For example, the soil in savanna and foothill ecosystems has, in general, changed from being used for a mostly extensive form of cattle raising to an intensive one. It has also been affected by other transformations caused by the expansion of the agricultural frontier and the construction of infrastructure, among others1,2,3. Such drivers of change have modified the way resources are used and how human populations relate to them, producing a growing regional economy4 that follows foreign guidelines. Therefore the challenge of managing this socio-ecological system in constant flux resides in recognizing the extreme climatic dynamics of the region and summoning all the persons involved so they may actively participate. Such involvement should contribute to the planning, execution, and follow-up plans of territorial management, conceived as the essential base of an appropriate form of managing and maintaining biodiversity and its derived ecosystem services.

It is therefore necessary to "link the community, indigenous peoples, criollos from the area, newcomers to the region, and vulnerable groups in order to create development proposals that contribute to strengthening processes that are sustainable, equitable, and inclusive4. In this way, the theoretic foundation is that ecosystem services at a local scale offer a lush route towards understanding the relationship between communities and their environment.

The project "Conservation of Threatened Species in the Area of Influence of the Bicentenario Pipeline" has the goal of developing a social and ecological diagnosis of the territory. It identifies the main ecosystem services with the purpose of establishing management guidelines framed in the Integrated Valuation of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IVBES) 6. The exploration of concepts such as human well-being, territory, and conservation, along with the study of the existing relationship between daily life and the maintenance of the quality of natural resources, resulted in a collaborative construction of knowledge with many communities in six municipalities of Arauca and Casanare.