Arequipa highland communities adapt to climate change

About 70,000 residents of 36 alpaca-producing communities in five highland provinces in the Arequipa region living in extreme poverty will benefit from the Ayninacuy project, which calls for promoting alpaca rearing and improving fiber production, as well as providing access to safe water and improved housing, as an integral part of climate change adaptation in southern Peru.

Ayninacuy (Quechua term meaning adaptation) is technically implemented by the Cooperation in the Sustainable Self-development Process of Arequipa (COPASA), the regional government of Arequipa, while the Consortium for Sustainable Development of the Andean Ecoregion (CONDESAN) will act as the executor in administrative aspects.

CAF-development bank of Latin America- will be implementing the project, with funds amounting to USD 2.9 million from the United Nations Adaptation Fund, which will benefit people in 36 communities in 18 districts of the provinces of Arequipa, Caylloma, Condesuyos, Castilla, and La Unión, located at more than 12,500 ft (3,800 m) above sea level.

The project includes the installation of SAT early warning modules, improvement of levees, recovery of micro-dams, reconstruction of outhouses to improve sanitary conditions and prevent mortality of pregnant female alpacas and newly born offspring, as well as the placement of protection fences and cultivation of pastures for forage.

It also includes the installation of household safe water systems in rural areas, improvement of rustic channels to optimize water management to expand wetlands in Andean highland areas, installation of pressurized irrigation modules, in addition to capacity-building for authorities and representatives of the beneficiary communities.

The Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources, Lucia Ruíz Ostoic, explained that the project involves a comprehensive strategy for climate change adaptation, but also an important component of inclusion and the fight against poverty.

“This initiative will have a tremendous impact because camelids are bred in ecosystems in areas above 12,500 feet and these include provinces with highest levels of social exclusion. In addition, it is the principal livelihood among Peru’s Andean highland communities, whose population is engaged in this activity nationwide, including approximately 1.5 million people living in poverty”, Ostoic said.

Socialization workshops

The governor of the Arequipa region, Yamila Osorio Delgado, stressed that Arequipa is the first region in the country to obtain funds from the United Nations Adaptation Fund, and highlighted that the approval process for this initiative was arduous, but thanks to the work of the COPASA task force – with assistance from CAF – we secured the financing in order to implement the climate change adaptation measures, to better the livelihoods of disadvantaged rural communities in the region.

“We will train residents to become agents of change and reduce vulnerability to climate change, mainly by strengthening their livelihoods through initiatives such as agricultural insurance, healthy housing, ensuring utilities and rearing alpacas for fiber production, which is the main livelihood of the Andean highland areas,” said Governor Yamila Osorio Delgado, who together with representatives from the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), CONDESAN, CAF and COPASA officially opened the workshop for disseminating activities and expected results of the project among authorities and representatives of beneficiary communities.