Intercultural Encounters Centered on High-Andean Wetlands: Aymara Shepherds’ Ancestral Practices of Care

Some of these wetlands had gone virtually unirrigated for decades. The depopulation of the Altiplano, prolonged drought, and the lack of institutional support for Aymara herders meant that these priority ecosystems went without the care they required for years. However, with the revival of ancestral irrigation practices led by local communities, the situation has gradually begun to shift toward greater recognition of the importance of these wetlands, which not only provide forage for camelids but also serve as habitats for a wide variety of birds and other wildlife.

Following the production of the documentary Champeales, which explores this reality and is now available on YouTube, the CEQUIA collective and its team (1), with support from our FMA Fund, organized a series of gatherings with Aymara herders and territorial managers from academia and public institutions. During these events, the documentary was screened and participants engaged in discussions about the irrigation practices that make the care and maintenance of high-Andean bofedales possible today.

The altiplano wetlands featured in the film, located across the municipalities of General Lagos, Putre, and Camarones in the Arica and Parinacota Region, have become a focal point for collaboration among herders, local communities, and public institutions working to restore them. These relationships reflect the Andean concept of ayni, or reciprocity, according to CEQUIA member Magdalena García.

Transboundary bofedales

The Knowledge Dialogues on Bofedales: Lessons from Andean Herding in These Priority Ecosystems took place in Arica, Putre, Visviri, and Codpa, bringing together the herders leading this initiative with representatives from CONAF and the Universidad de Tarapacá. Community members and students of different generations participated, sharing their perspectives and knowledge about practices that remain alive today but are often unfamiliar to those who do not live near these wetlands.

Along these lines, Mónica Meza, an academic from the Department of Historical and Geographical Sciences at the Universidad de Tarapacá, noted during one of the dialogues that these ecosystems are located at the headwaters of the basin, where the water cycle begins, while most of the population lives in the city, in the driest desert in the world. “It’s as if the world were upside down,” she said.

Among the panelists was Daniela Huanca from CONAF, an institution involved in one of three formal programs (2) that provide financial incentives to herders who irrigate the wetlands during the seasons when they require water. Through these initiatives, she explained, herders are hired to manage the bofedales in accordance with transhumance—the seasonal movement of livestock and their keepers in search of suitable grazing areas, adapting to summer and winter conditions.

Luca Sitzia, an academic from the Department of Anthropology at the Universidad de Tarapacá, described the champeales as “repositories of living memory, stories, and histories,” as well as witnesses to changing customs and patterns of migration over time, reflecting the deeply transboundary nature of the territory.

Community member and herder Carlota Flores spoke about the importance of preserving the Aymara worldview regarding the sacred nature of the mountains, where “you cannot simply come and strike any place with a pickaxe” to create irrigation channels. In her view, this knowledge must be incorporated into land and water management programs.

The discussions also addressed the threats facing the bofedales, including the mining industry and the impact of extractive activities on water availability through drilling operations.

León Ticona and Silvia Terán, respectively, spoke about the importance of returning to Andean values such as ayni —“today for me, tomorrow for you”—and encouraged participants to remember that “there are other lives besides our own.”

Reflecting on these intercultural gatherings, which also sought to bring a more decentralized perspective to the Arica and Parinacota Region by engaging rural communities, Magdalena García of CEQUIA said that the collective will continue working to share the knowledge exchanged during the events, highlighting how ancestral technologies can offer valuable possibilities for conservation now and in the future.

Details of the encounters and participants:

Friday, April 10th, Arica. Biblioteca Municipal. Participants: Silvia Terán (community member from Chucuyo), Daniela Huanca (CONAF), Mónica Meza (Universidad de Tarapacá) and Luca Sitzia (Universidad de Tarapacá). Moderated by: Magdalena García.

Monday, April 13th, Putre. Salón Gobernadora María Marcelo Mariño. Participants: Conrado Blanco (Guallatire) and Daniela Huanca (CONAF). Moderated by: Magdalena G.

Tuesday, April 14th, Visviri. Salón de Eventos Tomislav Simunovich. Participants: Carlota Flores, León Ticona (Tacora) and Daniela Huanca (CONAF). Moderated by: Magdalena G.

Thursday, April 16th, Codpa. Junta de Vecinos No. 3. Participants: Nelly Bisa (Parcohaylla), Ernesto Castro (Surire), Luca Sitzia (Universidad de Tarapacá). Moderated by: Magdalena G.

Footnotes

(1) Team composed of Magdalena García, Claudia del Fierro, Leslie Zapata, Daniela Huanca, Patricia Albornoz and Rolando Manzano.

(2) An agreement between the Corporación Nacional Forestal (CONAF) and the Corporación Nacional de Desarrollo Indígena (CONADI), funded by the latter; the Siembra por Chile Program, funded by CONAF; and the Recovery of Andean Ecosystem Environmental Services and Training Program, funded by the Regional Government of Arica and Parinacota, administered by the SEREMI of Agriculture and executed by CONAF.