Alpacas and Glaciers

With climate change, alpaqueros in Peru’s Altiplano are turning to the past to create resilience for the future.

Almanacs are resources to understand how natural cycles interact with specific topics. Each month, The Mindful Designer’s Almanac offers musings about natural fibers harvested that month or season. Although most alpaqueros shear their alpacas in November, there is a second shearing in February, if necessary.

The Quechua people have inhabited Peru’s Altiplano for thousands of years thanks to the snow-capped peaks towering over their home. The Altiplano is an extreme environment. Starting at over 10,000ft above sea level, it experiences some snow in the winter, little rain in the shoulder seasons, high winds, and intense sun. Even though many days of the winter are below freezing, the lakes, rivers, and wetlands never freeze due to the solar intensity.

Few species can survive the intense conditions and delicate ecosystems. The Quechua people’s livelihoods rely on the ones that can. Alpacas have adapted to the extreme conditions of the valleys of the Altiplano. They have relatively high red blood cells to adjust to the high altitude, a specialized digestive system for the Altiplano’s vegetation, and a thick fleece to protect them from the intense sun, wind, and cold. They have soft footbeds that do not overly disturb the delicate ecosystem and graze vegetation (they cut the grasses rather than uproot them). Alpacas roam the Altiplano and subsist on grasses supported by glacier runoff.

How much water the Altiplano receives has always been affected by the El Niño and La Niña cycles– with a decrease in rain during La Niña and an increase during El Niño. The glaciers spotting the Andes provided assurances during the dry years. There would be a steady glacier runoff even if there was not enough rain. The La Niña cycle from 2020 to 2023 was different. It marked the driest years in the Altiplano’s recent history and glacial runoff was at an all-time low. The National Institute for the Study of Glaciers and Mountain Ecosystems found that the Andes have lost half of their glaciers in the last 50 years. Not only has climate change increased the intensity of droughts, but it has also diminished the ecosystem's resilience to them.

Although the Quechua people have relied on alpacas for their livelihoods for thousands of years, the nature of their relationship has changed. Before the mid-1900s, alpacas were part of a more subsistence lifestyle: they provided food, fiber, and fuel to the families that raised them, and their fiber supported the artisanal textile industry. In the 1920s, a British expat visited the Altiplano and discovered the potential of alpaca fiber as a global commodity. During the next hundred years, the company he formed, called Michell, provided global markets with alpaca fiber, yarn, and finished garments. Another expat created a competing company called Inca Alpaca. The two companies transformed alpaca fiber into a commodity that generates around 200 million dollars a year.

Commodification also transformed alpacas as a species. Alpaqueros moved away from more diverse herds to primarily high-earning ones– herds of white alpacas with fine, consistent, long fiber. The move increased the quality of fiber and softness of alpaca sweaters, but it did not necessarily improve the resilience of the herd. Alpacas are not highly adaptable. They have evolved to thrive in their specific environment in the High Andes, but one small change in climate, nutrition, or health can decimate an entire herd. As Peru’s Altiplano faces rapid changes to its climate and resource availability, alpacas will have to adapt. A few organizations have been working on just that. By having alpacas with a diversity of traits, they can help alpaqueros breed for resilience and start building a more diverse gene pool.

The freshwater systems and ecology changed along with the alpaca industry. To create more pastures for the alpaca, aplaqueros diverted water from natural wetlands and riparian zones. Wetlands are fundamental for freshwater retention, and their soils and plants hold a vast amount of carbon. Wetlands make up only 3% of the earth’s land mass but hold 33% of the earth’s soil carbon. Now, alpaqueros are using the techniques of their ancestors to retain freshwater better, bring back wetlands, and support pastures during drought years. Qochas are rustic micro-dams that were an integral part of the Incan’s hydrologic engineering. Alpaqueros use stones and clay to divert water into small channels and lagoons in naturally low areas in the terrain. The resulting Qochas improve water retention, recharge aquifers, and reintroduce wetlands.

Qochas alone will not be enough to recharge the Altiplano’s water cycle. Like the wetland, forests were converted to pastures. Forested areas capture 16 times more water than grasslands, so replanting native pines is an easy way to improve freshwater capture. Similarly, alpaqueros are replanting pastures with native plants. Although alpacas are native grazers to the Altiplano, their population has grown together with commodification. As they graze, they prefer certain plants, altering the diversity of the flora. Another way to improve biodiversity in pastures is fences. They allow alpacas to graze certain paddocks while others regenerate.

All of these practices take a deep understanding of the ecosystem to do correctly. For 6,000 years, the Quechua people have raised alpacas and managed the grasslands of the Altiplano. They can tap into their ancestral knowledge to improve water security and resilience to climate change not only for themselves but also for those downstream of them. But with little government aid, alpaqueros solely rely on the sale of fiber and meat for their income. The price of alpaca fiber is cyclical depending on the market. Some years, the cost of growing the fiber is more than what the alpaqueros receive. Since most alpaqueros live in poverty, they often have to choose short-term solutions that do not necessarily increase long-term resilience. The Quechua people are in the unique position of being acutely affected by climate change but also have the knowledge to combat it. They just need resources, time, and money to implement it.

Sourcing and Purchasing Decisions that Support Regenerating the Altiplano

1. Buying or sourcing undyed alpaca in non-white colors. This supports more diverse herds.

   Note: Although naturally colored yarn and fiber is usually more expensive for a brand or customer, middlemen usually buy it from Peruvian alpacqueros at a lower price than white alpaca.

2. Support Revolution Knits x Innovar y Compartir Regenerative Alpaca Project: Innovar y Compartir is an NGO that works with small alpaca farms to implement all of the practices above. Revolution Knits and the NGO buy fiber directly from the alpaqueros (to reduce middlemen), spins the fiber and knits it with artisans in Peru. Wolhide has a few pieces from this project, and more brands will release them next fall! The photos above are from the farms they work with.

Read last year’s alpaca entry:

NOTES:

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/oct/06/hanging-by-a-thread-peruvian-alpaca-breeders-way-of-life-under-threat

https://www.minam.gob.pe/glaciares/historia-inspiradoras/las-qochas-sistemas-de-recargas-de-agua-en-microcuencas-altoandinas/

https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/an-ancestral-solution-ensures-water-for-peruvian-alpaca-farmers-but-is-it-enough/

https://earthjournalism.net/stories/in-the-peruvian-andes-residents-sow-water-for-the-future#:~:text=The%20qocha%20is%20part%20of,increasing%20infiltration%20(which%20permanently%20recharges