{"id":5325,"date":"2018-12-23T22:20:00","date_gmt":"2018-12-24T06:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/?p=5325&lang=en"},"modified":"2019-02-04T10:43:36","modified_gmt":"2019-02-04T18:43:36","slug":"alticultura-and-the-future-of-the-altiplano","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.entremundos.org\/revista\/medio-ambiente\/alticultura-and-the-future-of-the-altiplano\/","title":{"rendered":"Alticultura and the future of the Altiplano"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Text and photos by Simon Croft<\/h4>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Rachael Shenyo, founder of Alticultura<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n<\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

After working in Guatemala with the Peace Corps as an animal science expert, Rachael Shenyo found that although the effects of climate change were already being felt by residents of the Western Highlands, very little research existed relating specifically to climate change in the highlands of Central America. Together with a local indigenous leader, she founded Alticultura in 2011 with the aim of empowering entire communities to move towards climate change resilience.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Along with other rural areas of Guatemala, the future of the Altiplano will see rapid population growth and accelerated climate change. These factors combined with poor soil management make for a vulnerable agriculture-based socio-economic system. Before the agricultural revolution, the milpa system of farming was used for many centuries in the region – planting various complementary crops in the same field, which resulted in a resilient, self-replenishing system that required no chemical fertiliser. However, the milpa was largely abandoned in favour of a monoculture system \u2013 planting one type of crop per field, with bare soil and high reliance on agrichemical inputs. This makes for more efficient harvests, but is far more vulnerable to extremes of weather. Similarly, the practice of tilling the soil and removing its top covering layer, something which has become commonplace throughout the world, reduces the soil\u2019s ability to retain nutrients and capture rainfall.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

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Single-crop fields with bare soil, exposed to the elements<\/figcaption>\r\n<\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Studies have shown that the nutritional content of the food grown in the Altiplano has dropped by 15% in the past 30 years, while climate unpredictability has risen and continues to rise.\u00a0 Farmers in the area used to be able to predict seasonal changes with high levels of accuracy, allowing for more informed decisions of when to plant and harvest, whereas now they are often at the mercy of unexpected conditions. As the weather becomes more and more unpredictable, it is increasingly important to prioritise the resilience of our ecosystems, an area in which Alticultura is leading the charge.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Alticultura aims for climate adaptation, not climate mitigation. Climate change is already visibly taking place in the Altiplano, and instructing local communities to switch to energy-saving light bulbs won\u2019t ensure them a good harvest. Instead, the focus is on improving the durability of the ecosystem, so it can withstand these conditions. As noted above, a crucial weak link here is the quality of the soil. Healthy, resilient living soil is particularly important in the Altiplano due to the extremes of weather. Alticultura\u2019s ongoing \u2018Petricor\u2019 project aims to address this weakness, using techniques adapted from agricultural practices from Central America, Brazil, Africa and Japan in order to regenerate degraded soil and increase its carbon content and moisture levels. This project is crucial as it\u2019s the only one of its kind that is adapted to the needs of the Highlands, and Rachael hopes to use its findings for the benefit of all those in the region.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n