Farms, ranches and open hills, the many faces of modern vicuna management and theri implications in a nascent marketplace.

LICHTENSTEIN, GABRIELA

Macaulay Institute for Agriculutre, Aberdeen, Escocia

Simposio; Vicuna and guanaco luxury fibres: Issues in achieving sutainable use and fair trade in wildlife products from the Andes; 2005

Macuaulay Institute

Vicuñas are wild South American camelids adapted to live in the high Andean region called Puna and Altiplano of Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Peru and Ecuador above the 3,500 m. Vicuna fibre is one of the finest and softest in the world which led the species almost to its extinction. International and local conservation efforts turned vicunas into one of the few success stories of international wildlife conservation and the population recovered to 250,000 animals in less than 30 years. This population increase enabled governments to change their policies from strict protection to sustainable use. Different models for vicuña management have been adopted by Andean countries according to the country-specific social organization systems, idiosyncrasies, livelihoods, and national and local laws pertaining to resource and land tenure. These are explored in this paper.