Cultural strategies for the mitigation of droughts in the dry Andes
2005
Gioda, Alain | Morlon, Pierre
The Southern Central Andes (Peru, Bolivia, Northern Chile and Argentina) is a large dry biogeographic region in a mountainous environment, sometimes up to 6000 m a.s.l. Today, the descendants of the Inca in the highlands of Peru, Bolivia, northern Chile and northern Argentina are some of the poorest people in the world. Yet in spite of what appears to be a harsh subsistence existence, these indigenous people have developed flexible agricultural systems over many centuries, to guarantee a livelihood when faced with major droughts or other climatic uncertainties. The evidence for their success at dealing with droughts comes from historical accounts since the 1530’s, subsequent to the Spanish conquest, as well as a range of evidence before the period of writing. More importantly perhaps, the people are still there carrying out these successful strategies on the landscape and managing to obtain the necessary resources to sustain them: food, fodder and fuel.
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