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The Water Gods

The rural community of Canchayllo has successfully rehabilitated the Chacara-Jutupuquio canal and repaired the crest of the dam in the Chacara lagoon.

February 21^st, 2015

For the residents of Canchayllo (Jauja district, Peru) in the Nor Yauyos Cochas Landscape Reserve, climate change has sparked engineering and good reflexes. Here, people have changed their habits, infrastructure and organization in order to protect and restore pasture- and water-management in the area. Here’s the story.

Canchayllo. 3,600 metres above sea level.

On the Chacara Lagoon, aquatic birds are composing a sonata of squawking and water splashes when they dive. A breathtaking musical peace takes hold of the entire body, the pulse racing then diminishing into the languorous stones surrounding the landscape. The dawn of time seems to blare out in the lost corner of Canchayllo, in the Jauja district of the Junín region.

Anthropologist Elmer Segura of the Peruvian Mountain Institute attests that climate change is a fact. Decisive measures through a mountain ecosystem-based adaptation project (EbA Montaña) aim to reduce the effects of this change, whatever the future scenario. The communities benefiting from these decisive measures through the ecosystem-based adaptation approach in the Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve are Canchayllo and Miraflores.

In Canchayllo, the selection, diagnosis and design process for this decisive action was carried out between July and November 2013, with participation from officials, community members, local researchers, reserve rangers and the landscape reserve team. The selected measure was to improve water availability and distribution along with community management of native pastureland. As explained by Elmer, this will require “strengthening institutionality and communal organization, strengthening capacities and local knowledge, as well as reworking our infrastructure by rehabilitating the canal from Chacara to Jutupuquio and repairing the crest of the dike of the Chacara lagoon.”

The efforts have paid off, and a major infrastructure project is about to be unveiled. The implementation of “green-grey” infrastructure, which involves repairing the crest of a dike at the Chacara lagoon and the rehabilitation of a 2855-meter canal, will have multiple benefits: during winter, more water will be stored in preparation for summer; water will be transported from the Chacara sector to Jutupuquio with infiltration all along the route; 800 hectares of natural pastures and grasslands in the communal farm and the surrounding areas will be humidified; in addition, this will allow for water infiltration in the highlands that feed the Yanaotuto and Pumapanca springs. “We’ve also recovered the ancestral irrigation canals. We can have small permanent lagoons and increase the presence of birds and other fauna. The animals will have drinking troughs during the dry season and calving. Similarly, we hope that launching this project helps improve community organization for water distribution and management,” explains Segura.

Canchayllo villagers opening the intake at the beginning of the canal.

Mission and vision in the Andes

A festival is held in Jutupuquio. The mountains, regarded as divinities, as well as the Andean gods are present. A priest, Aya Víctor Vilcahuaman, presides over the ritual and makes an offering to the earth. Coca leaves are distributed to be chewed in Holy Communion. The hymns and the music burst into hypnotic harmony. Community representatives, students from the Canchayllo school, officials and the reserve team also attend. The melody of the quena, an Andean flute, resonates louder and louder to the rhythm of the beating tinya, an indigenous drum. The sky and water gods and Pachamama are invoked. There is no waiting for the offerings. Prayers are dedicated to the mountains, stars, rivers and lagoons. “Cerro Wakra, Pariacaca, rain deities,” recites the priest. “Let us return to our ancestral knowledge; integrate us with nature. We are conversing with the stones, the highland pastures, the trees, as did our forefathers.” The canal and the dike have been blessed.

“Today, we celebrate one and a half years of work,” recalls Anelí Gómez, an engineer from the Mountain Institute, during the inaugural ceremony. The implementation of this infrastructure is one component of decisive action for adaptation to climate change. “In order for this measure to be successful, community involvement and organization are paramount.” Gómez highlights the hard work performed as part of the communal work that led to the inaugurated infrastructure project’s success. “Despite the mountain climate, the rain, the snow and the heat, the community persevered to successfully complete the work, which is now bearing fruit.”

Ultimately, the residents of Canchayllo have implemented the pasture- and water-management plan, demonstrating their commitment to the future. They were jointly supported by the community of Canchayllo, the National Service of Areas Protected by the State, and professional staff from the EbA Mountain Project; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)—through its implementation partner in Peru, the Mountain Institute—and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), through funding from the German Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety; at the request of the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment.

For the community of Canchayllo, the goal of the pasture- and water-management plan is to improve organization by 2020 in the following areas: water management; modernized reservoirs and irrigation; maintenance of springs, irrigation canals and water troughs; conservation of natural pastureland and planting and maintenance of cultivated pastures; improved quality of sheep and cattle; raising South American camelids; reduction in the horse population and an improved distribution chain. In addition, this plan should be organized so that it complies with government statutes, executive boards and the municipality; it aims to strengthen and conserve resources (pastureland, water and livestock) and provides for calling on youths to participate in community activities.

Making offerings to the land in the opening ceremony for the Chacara-Jutupuquio canal.

Foster Damián, Canchayllo community president, opening the canal.

Thank you for the water

Justina Ricapa, Canchayllo resident and local researcher, remembers that at first, they were a bit incredulous. Many institutions came with promises and plans that were never fulfilled. However, since the middle of last year, thanks to the EbA Mountain Project, assemblies, meetings, presentations and discussions were set up. “The community members’ turnout was high at these meetings. Reusing the former Cerro de Pasco Corporation trenches that connect Cacara to Jutupuquio and feed into the Patococha lagoon and communal lowlands has had positive results. It wasn’t easy; there are still other trenches to maintain. But today, we’re inaugurating a major infrastructure project that will benefit many of us.” Then, she named and thanked the officials and professionals from the EbA Project and all its components who continue to provide support.

Meanwhile, Juan Pérez, another local researcher from the community, highlights the completed projects’ sustainability and emphasizes the importance of water and its management for Canchayllo, where the land for livestock and pastures has no rival. “With the relevant technical advice, we are capable of many things.”

Foster Damián, President of the Canchayllo rural community, can bet on sustainable development for his community as a result of this experience. Today, he remembers everything this change involved: “It cost us blood, sweat and tears, but the interest and commitment of our community members and our local researchers vis-à-vis this pilot project was worth it. And water is a vital resource for everyone. This infrastructure project will help distribute it to the four corners of the community.”

The celebration of life continues, alongside the dances, chants and offerings. And this is only the start. The start on the path to a better future.

Justina Ricapa, local researcher and Canchayllo villager.

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THE MOUNTAIN EBA PROJECT

The Mountain Ecosystems-Based Adaptation program (EbA) is a collaborative initiative of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) (through its implementing partner, the Mountain Institute (MI) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), funded by the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Public Works and Nuclear Safety of the German Government (BMUB). In Peru, the programme is run by the Ministry of Environment of Peru (MINAM) and is implemented in the Nor Yauyos-Cochas Landscape Reserve (RPNYC), with support from the National Service for Protected Natural Areas (SERNANP).

For more information visit our website: ebaflagship.org/peru

Footnotes

By Mt EbA Peru. Written by José Carlos Picón (Tres mitades). Photos: Carlos Díaz Huerta (Tres mitades.)

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FootNotes

By Mt EbA Peru. Written by José Carlos Picón (Tres mitades). Photos: Carlos Díaz Huerta (Tres mitades.)

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The Water Gods

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