Llamas, vicuñas and the vulnerability ofpastoral livelihoods in the Andean altiplano.

BIBIANA VILÁ

Belem

Congreso; International Ethnobiology Congress; 2018

ISE International Society of Ethnobiology

BIBIANA LEONOR VILÁ (VICAM CONICET) Llamas, vicuñas and the vulnerability ofpastoral livelihoods in the Andean altiplano.South American camelids (SACs) are an essential part of the biocultural heritage of the Andes, a very important material resourcefor pastoral indigenous communities living in high altitude dry Puna. The domestic SACs, llamas (Lama glama) and alpacasNW Argentina.(Vicugna pacos) as well as the wild vicuña (Vicugna vicugna) play a major role as resource in a high altitude area where agricultureis limited. Pastoral communities are getting more vulnerable suffering from climate change. Several socioeconomic factors, suchas border policies for trespassing animals, changes in land tenure, male migration, price of llama fiber, lack of support fordeveloping vicuñas chakus, are fracturing large-scale binational pastoral ecosystems into spatially isolated systems. This trend isstudy in the Santa Catalina Fair case. Santa Catalina is the northernmost town of Argentina, bordering the Plurinational Republicof Bolivia. It is a small traditional community located 3800masl. As another example of the worldwide trend, the practice ofusing llama caravans has decreased in recent years. Peasants, in this area known as llameros or caravaneros, belong to Andeanindigenous communities in Nor Lipez, Bolivia. The llameros with their caravans travel essentially to barter llama fiber in exchangefor industrial food-products, mainly flour and sugar. The caravan trip to and from Santa Catalina takes an average of 12 days. Thesellameros belong to extended families, developed their own llamas ethnotaxonomy and can recognize each animal of the troop. Yetcaravans are disappearing given the ever more ubiquitous presence of vehicles, a worldwide trend. Three reasons are offered (twosocioeconomic and one environmental) to explain the observed decline: (a) the presence of a growing textile industry in Bolivia,with an increase in the demand for camelid fiber, (b) the improvement in living conditions in Bolivia, and (c) the drought, withvery little pasture for the animals on their route.