Reframing Pastoral Practices of Bofedal Management to Increase the Resilience of Andean Water Towers

Yager, Karina; Prieto, Manuel; Meneses, Rosa Isela

doi:10.1659/mrd-journal-d-21-00011.1

Cited by 13 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 69 publications

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“…Our overall takeaway message from this study is that rapid climate change will directly impact the environmental system, with concomitant changes to the social system causing further detrimental feedback relative to the environmental system. We predict that agropastoralism as a land use type will respond to climate change via altered grazing management practices, e.g., [48]. The challenge will be to carry out agropastoralism in ways that do not lead to land degradation, while also considering ecosystem functions and the needs of endemic and high elevation species that require protected areas to survive.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Change and Livestock Governance in a Peruvian National Park

Young,

Alata,

Chimner

et al. 2023

Land

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While the grazing of livestock has occurred for millennia in the Andes, current sustainability debates center on concerns with co-managing climate change and pastoralism. These discussions have special resonance in places protected by the state for biodiversity, scenery, and sustainable and traditional land uses, such as those found in protected areas and biosphere reserves. For this article, we integrate data from a social-ecological research project on the land use systems that affect high-elevation ecosystems in Peru’s Huascarán National Park, with special emphasis on the wetlands. We used land cover and land use data and insights from interactions with pastoralists to show that (1) wet meadows dominate the lower reaches of the park, while peatlands predominate above 4000 m elevation; (2) wet meadows are most useful for traditional grazing systems, while the peatlands are especially susceptible to trampling by livestock; and (3) there is limited ecological space at the highest elevations for the successful future upward relocation of either land use or potential habitats for species identified as of concern. We explore the implications of these findings for the adaptive strategies of biophysical and social processes in terms of livelihoods and biodiversity in and around a protected area. We conclude that there are many additional opportunities to be explored to inform the management of ecosystem services and provide improvements for the adaptive capacity of communities and park managers.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Change and Livestock Governance in a Peruvian National Park

Young,

Alata,

Chimner

et al. 2023

Land

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“…Today, deglaciation, along with irregular and unpredictable rainfall, threatens the groundwater supplies upon which bofedales rely (Yager et al . 2021: A5). Similarly large-scale climatic shifts in the past, evidenced in ice core records (e.g.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Managing pastoral landscapes: remote survey of herding infrastructure in Huancavelica, Peru

Whitlock,

Van Valkenburgh,

Wernke

2023

Antiquity

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Recent archaeological research in the Andes suggests that Indigenous herders carefully managed their environments through the modification of local hydrology and vegetation. However, the limited geographical scale of previous research makes it challenging to assess the range and prevalence of pastoralist land management in the Andes. In this article, the authors utilise large-scale, systematic imagery survey to examine the distribution and environmental contexts of corrals and pastoralist settlements in Huancavelica, Peru. Results indicate that corrals and pastoralist settlements cluster around colonial and present-day settlements and that a statistically significant relationship exists between pastoral infrastructure and perennial vegetation. This highlights the utility of remote survey for the identification of trans-regional patterns in herder-environment relationships that are otherwise difficult to detect.

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“…More recently, the lithium boom has further worsened this situation by initiating and designing projects to extract lithium brines from salt flats located within Indigenous lands [82]. Furthermore, environmental conservation policies through protected areas have contributed to this process [83] by treating the region as virgin land and perpetuating the myth of pristine wilderness [84], while ignoring how many of the highlands, instead of being wild, have also been shaped through practices rooted in traditional ecological knowledge [85]. However, even the environmental value of the highlands cannot withstand the constant threat of extractive industries.…”

Section: The Inhospitable and Unpopulated Atacama Desertmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Production of Empty Space and Deserts in the South-Central Andean Highlands

Meza Aliaga,

Prieto,

Rodríguez Díaz

et al. 2023

Land

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Imaginaries serve as the foundational framework shaping representations and influencing societal perspectives, subsequently guiding specific practices. Within the realm of geographical imaginaries, this article adopted a geohistorical perspective, using periodicals, secondary sources, and contemporary digital media to shed light on the geography of the highlands of northern Chile. Our objective was to emphasize the representations that have discouraged the occupation of these mountainous regions. Our findings revealed the emergence of a geographic imaginary that attributes desert-like qualities to the entire northern region of Chile, extending beyond the “unpopulated area of Atacama”. This misleading characterization fails to distinguish desert areas from the topographic variations existing between the Andes and the Pacific coast. These representations, which have translated into depopulation practices, have stigmatized the highland areas as synonymous with desolation and inhospitality, seemingly unsuitable for daily life, social production, and reproduction potential. Consequently, both spaces and individuals have been objectified for development, perpetuating the capitalist system as the dominant mode of production.

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Reframing Pastoral Practices of Bofedal Management to Increase the Resilience of Andean Water Towers

Cited by 13 publications

References 69 publications

Ecological Change and Livestock Governance in a Peruvian National Park

Ecological Change and Livestock Governance in a Peruvian National Park

Managing pastoral landscapes: remote survey of herding infrastructure in Huancavelica, Peru

The Production of Empty Space and Deserts in the South-Central Andean Highlands

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