Commentary: Controversies and Common Ground in Wild and Domestic Fine Fiber Production in Argentina

VILÁ, BIBIANA; ARZAMENDIA, YANINA; BALDO, JORGE; ROJO, VERÓNICA; PIROLA, MALENA; YACOBACCIO, HUGO

Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems

Frontiers

Lugar: Lausanne; Año: 2021 vol. 5

South American Camelids (SACs) make several material and non-material contributions to people and are a key component of the Andean biocultural heritage (Vilá and Arzamendia, 2020). As emblematic animals of the Puna or Altiplano ecosystem, SACs are part of one of the most long-lived and culturally distinctive socio-ecological systems in the world: Andean pastoralism. Although as wild camelids vicugnas could be integrated to the Andean socio-ecological productive system as a source of highly-valued fiber via chakus, a traditional capture, shearing and release (CSR) system, the main livelihood in the area today is livestock pastoralism, mainly llamas and sheep.As an interdisciplinary research group focused on Andean biodiversity, culture, history, and current eco-social issues, Vicugnas, Camélidos y Ambiente (VICAM) has a profound interest in Andean pastoralism and the relationship between local communities and endemic wildlife. One of the main objectives of our work is to promote effective actions to conserve and sustainable manage Andean biodiversity, including the well-being of IPLC (indigenous peoples and local communities). VICAM´s theoretical and ethical standpoint is one that emphasizes intercultural dialogue and the need to respect and consider local views and voices when planning and executing sustainable development projects (Wawrzyk and Vilá, 2013; Vilá, 2015, 2018; Vilá and Arzamendia, 2016; Tartaglia Gamarra and Vilá, 2021) a perspective that we believe has been misrepresented in the article by von Thungen et al. (2021).