Traditional Andean altiplano pastoral landscapes: Some co-produced projects between the local community and researchers

VILÁ B. L; ARZAMENDIA, Y

Marrakech

Congreso; ISE. International Congress of the Society of Ethnobiology; 2024

International Society of Ethnobiology

In the Andean altiplano, extensive grazing by llamas, alpacas, and sheep provides the main income for at least 1 million pastoralists.The UN launched 2024 as the international year of camelids. “Noting…that camelids constitute the main means of subsistence for millions of poor families that live in the most hostile ecosystems on the planet, and that they contribute to the fight against hunger, the eradication of extreme poverty, the empowerment of women and the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems”.We have been co-producing projects between the VICAM research group and local communities especially Santa Catalina´s Community Council which includes 3 indigenous Quechuas groups. We will present two co-produced activities, both initiated by community demands. 1) The environmental calendar was the result of intensive interaction between local communities and scientists: The Santa Catalina annual calendar is circular, sliced by month, and composed of 5 rings: climate, nature, festivities, and agronomic and livestock cycles. “Yesterday I communicated with the local radio show, they asked about this calendar because no other community had ever done it (…) Territorial participation can do things ... this will help us to continue improving and keep working together because it is hard for us to get together”. (F., president of the Athu Saphi Aboriginal Community). 2) The Pushkaj Runakuna, llama fibre, spinning contest is an activity initiated in the community council's demand for the organization of an event that counteracts the erosion of knowledge in llama spinning. It involves the entire community, from children to the elderly. and it has been held for three years with a large participation of between 40-50 people. “I want this contest to be an event of participation, of learning, of unity, for all of us who are brothers from the same land (...) spinning is ours, it is something that is being lost (...) today It is easy for us to go buy a jacket (...) and we have left aside doing (...). The good thing about this is valuing our customs, something that we know how to do, that perhaps we don't dare, perhaps we are ashamed of, perhaps because of society itself we sometimes have that fear of saying it, of expressing our wisdom of what we carry inside( Community leader words)