The Sibundoy Valley, an area of great environmental and social importance, is located in the Amazonian slopes of the eastern Andes of Colombia in the department of Putumayo. In order to analyze the changes brought about by the development of the cattle-raising industry, a socioecological model was devised. This model included structural variables, states, and trajectories of change for the period of 1980 - 2010. We found that in the early 1980s the territory had a low degree of disturbance (95%of natural wetlands remained), and during the late 80s, when a drainage district was created, cattle became the most important economic activity. Over time this intervention generated strong environmental change: by 2010 the region had increased its vulnerability and lost its resilience to climate variability, as manifested in the extreme 2010 climatic events that caused strong negative impacts on the economy of the region. Based on the model developed, guidelines for adaptive management are proposed.