7 Communities Respond to Glacier Loss in Peru

by Asociacion Instituto Andino de Montana

Project Report | May 13, 2022
2nd Report: Carania is recovering its ancestral canals and dams

By Vidal Rondan, Leysi Huayanca and Paloma Rodriguez | RETAMA Initiative team

Carania town - NYCLR

Dear donors,

We are pleased to share the second report of our GlobalGiving project "7 Communities Respond to the Loss of Glaciers in Peru".

During the last few months, we have been working hand in hand with the Peasant Community of Carania, part of the RETAMA network.

1. Seven wetlands, silt dams, and/or infiltration ditches restored using indigenous knowledge to secure water supply and offset loss of glaciers.

As part of our first objective, we began collecting information with the leaders and citizens of the town of Carania, holding meetings with representatives of social-based organizations, such as the Tourism Association, the Huamanchacos Committee, the Committee of the General Administration of Water and the Board of Directors of the Carania Peasant Community, as well as some other town members.

Since the purpose of our project is to support community responses to glacier loss as a result of climate change, the Carania Peasant Community has identified two main impacts:

The periods of drought have become more pronounced. To respond to this impact, they are betting on the restoration and improvement of the ancestral channel of "Anta", which supplies water to the ancestral reservoir of Cuchampe,-fundamental in the supply of water for the agricultural activities that are practiced in the terraces of Carhua, Anta, Carurto, and Zanque-.
Decrease in water storage in the Shiña and Willka Maria lagoons, due to the deglaciation process in the Quipala and Willka Maria snow-capped mountains, which provide water mainly to these lagoons and surrounding ecosystems such as bofedales (peatlands). In this case, the solutions they are proposing are related to the maintenance and revaluation of the ancestral dam in the Shiña lagoon.

The inhabitants of the community describe the drought impacts with the following words:

“I remember that years ago, during the wintertime, the rain lasted longer and the flow of the rivers and lagoons was higher. Instead, now the rain is little and does not adequately supply our crops”

"Recovering the ditches is very important for all the residents here, the water is for our crops, especially for corn"

"We depend on the pre-Inca canal of Anta, which for a long time has irrigated the terraces of Anta, Carhua, and Carurto (...) and it depends on us that the water arrives"

The problem of the deglaciation of the Quipala and Willka Maria mountains is described by a woman from the community, who shows us a worrying scenario:

“We estimate that our Quipala and Willka Maria mountains have lost 60% of their surface in the last four decades. In the future, this could cause the Cañete River to decrease its flow, and even the river that supplies Carania may disappear."

After the community established its priorities and identified potential solutions, we carried out two interventions in the field:

We had a communal workday of the Anta ancestral canal with the aim of cleaning, replenishing, and restoring the first sector of the canal. 35 residents, among young people, adults, men, women, community members, and leaders, participated actively. During the workday, the older women shared legends, songs, and typical dances in honor of Anta's ancestral canal. At the end of the day, the president of the community announced that more than 1.5 km of the canal had been recovered. The community is expecting to receive more donations to achieve the goal of restoring the remaining 7.5 km.
A second communal workday was organized to cover the dike and ancestral dam of the Shiña and Willka Maria lagoons to ensure the storage of water for its supply during the dry season. This time, 55 residents including youth, adults, men, women, community members, and leaders participated actively. Men were in charge of the maintenance and covering, while women collected and transported the champa -material with which the covering is made-.

2. Ancestral indigenous knowledge of water management is recognized as a nature-based, cost-effective mountain adaptation to climate change.

The Carania community recognizes tourism as a mechanism for cultural education and as an opportunity for the dissemination and recognition of local knowledge and their ancestral technologies.

As part of the efforts to reassess and strengthen the knowledge, uses and customs of water, we carry out four dissemination activities:

A short video was produced, aiming to promote the proper care and use of water and the Anta ancestral canal in the community. It also showcases the traditional Fiesta de la Laguna Mama Shiña, an annual party celebrated to give thanks to the lagoon for the water supply.
A poster on the traditional festival at the Mama Shiña lagoon was co-designed in conjunction with the leaders of the community and the Nor Yauyos Cochas Landscape Reserve (NYCLR).
A triptych of the district of Carania that contains the main tourist attractions, festivals or customs, location of water sources and ancestral technologies (dams, canals, platforms), and general information about the community was prepared.
A panel discussion was held to disseminate the importance of the Peasant Community of Carania, its experience in the sustainable use of water, and the conservation of ancestral technology for its management. The discussion had three moments: 1) the importance of water and its impact on climate change, 2) ancestral technologies for water management as an alternative solution and 3) the Carania Water Festival as a tradition that keeps the culture of the community alive.

3. The RETAMA network of communities has incorporated new members and scales up the solutions to 7 new places.

This is a long-term result that will measure the broader impacts of the initiative. It is expected for the Peasant Community of Carania to be a role model for carrying out dissemination activities in the surrounding communities such as Miraflores and Laraos in the NYCLR, as well as the other partner communities of the RETAMA network. We are also expecting to establish a precedent for future participatory exchanges at the departmental level with other communities neighboring the project and encourage the design of more solutions based on the conservation of ancestral technologies for water management. To achieve this defiant challenge, our donor's support in spreading and sharing our project is crucial.

Woman bringing offerings to the Shina lagoon - IdM

Shina Lagoon - NYCLR

Members of the Carania Peasant Community - IdM

Chapacocha Lagoon - Carania Peasant Community

Participants in the panel discussion - IdM

Links:

Introducing the Carania Peasant Community

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Jan 12, 2022
1st Report: Community Consultations

By Jorge Recharte | President, Instituto de Montana

7 Communities Respond to Glacier Loss in Peru
1st Quarterly Report November 1 - December 30, 2021

We are pleased to report on the initial two months of activities of our GlobalGiving project “7 Communities Respond to Glacier Loss in Peru”. Following our first fund raising campaign in September, we were able to raise 30% of the target funds and start field activities in November 2021. We have initiated the following activities for each of the three objectives established for the project.

The seven communities that we have identified to intervene in this phase of the project are located two in Ancash and 5 in the highlands of Lima. We have implemented initial activities in three of seven communities during the first two months of project activity. The cooperative approach we follow at Instituto de Montaña to implement projects with mountain communities is grounded on a participatory process to make sure that problems and solutions are owned by those communities. Instituto de Montaña plays the role of facilitator to identify and design specific interventions

1. Seven wetlands, silt dams and/or infiltration ditches restored using indigenous knowledge to secure water supply and offset loss of glaciers.

We begun consultation with 2 mountain communities in Ancash, Northern Peru. The communities are Canrey Grande and Cordillera Blanca. We conducted a consultation workshop with 17 representatives of these two communities and also their local governments on November 19. This was followed by visits to interview participants in more detail.

Because the purpose of the project is to support communities´ responses to the loss of glaciers resulting from climate change, we worked with representatives of the communities to identify and prioritize the problems. Residents use the native Quechua language expression “Uchakaquikan, meaning “The finishing of glaciers”. Communities identified two main impacts of climate change connected to the loss of glaciers:

Periods of drought have accentuated and the solutions they propose are related to the restoration and improvement of irrigation canals, may of those originally built in pre-Columbian times.
Increased acidity of water in rivers and irrigation canals due to the fact that as glaciers recede mineralized rocks are exposed and acid water lixiviates metals into water streams.

Drought and climate challenges are described by local residents in the following words:

“We are dependent on the irrigation canal throughout the year because rains may come late. The crop that suffers most tan any other crop is alfalfa [for cattle].”

“As the months without rain have extended in recent years, the result is irreparable damage to our crops of potatoes and cereals and also to our cattle because they do not gain weight and we loose.”

While droughts are the problem perceived as most important, the intensity of rains in shorter periods of time is also a serious problem because this prevents water from soaking soils and reaching the underground water table. One resident explained it in this way:

“The weather was more stable before (…) now we have abrupt changes. For example this year we had so much rain that it washed away crops and one part of our [irrigation] canal”

The problem of acid water is described with the expression “agua alcaparrosa”, “redish water”. A woman in the group said that in order to identify solutions to this problem

“We need to sensitize (…) younger people to join the research group for solutions. We need to investigate water canals, sedimentation systems and wetlands”

Other participants agreed on the need to develop sedimentation systems and new wetlands to reduce the metals caused by the loss of glaciers.

The need to work on better management of wetlands, locally known as oconales or bofedales, was also identified and was linked to the idea of rescuing lost traditional knowledge of wetland management.

Community Participants also identified the specific sites where draught and acid rain problems are worst and also preliminary ideas to develop solutions. For example, drought impacts in the lower zone the areas of Qaqapaqui, Milli, Achic, Canray Grande, Cristalyacu could be diminished with irrigation canals. Similarly, the areas most affected by acid water are the areas of Acocancha, Canray Chico, Achic, Pariapata, Canray Grande and the solution would be the development of wetalnds and sedimentation systems. Other sites where identified for the middle nd upper sections of the valley.

This priority setting exercise and the identification of specific places where we need to focus interventions helps us at Instituto de Montaña to make sure that interventions are owned by the communities and thus are more sustainable.

2. Ancestral indigenous knowledge of water management is recognized as a nature-based, cost effective mountain adaptation to climate change.

We sized the opportunity to increase visibility of indigenous knowledge of water management technologies, presenting the experience of the mountain community of Miraflores in the highlands of Lima to nominating its Yanacancha system of traditional alpine dams and canals to the World Monument Funds Watch 2022 List https://www.wmf.org/nominate.

Miraflores is located in the highlands of Lima. The purpose of this nomination is to identify material and non-material cultural heritage that can help humanity respond to the climate change crisis. In cooperation with the community of Miraflores and the Nor-Yauyos Cultural Landscape Protected Area, we presented the Yanacancha system of silt dams and artificial wetlands and canals that provide water to the alpine grasslands of Miraflores.

If selected as a site to be included in the Watch List, the World Monument Fund will work with Instituto de Montaña to increase public awareness of the importance of this cultural heritage as an example of native solutions to the impacts of climate change. If selected, the World Monument Fund will also match funds raised to restore these native technologies in the community of Miraflores and similar sites in Peru. We expect to report to you results of this nomination in the next quarterly report.

3. The RETAMA network of communities has incorporated new members and scales up the solutions to 7 new places.

This is a long-term result that will be a measure of the wider impacts of the initiative. We have no activities or results to report at this early stage of the project. However, we should share with you that through a cooperation with Oxford University, Instituto de Montaña has started to conduct an economic assessment of past restoration efforts in Miraflores community to assess to what extend these type of interventions may contribute to post-Covid-19 economic recovery.

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