High landscapes: The Andenes of the distrit of Cabana, Sondondo Valley, Peru

Abstract

SUMMARY The territorial anthropization of the habitat, at altitudes ranging from 2900 mamsl to 3800 mamsl, has created unique landscapes in the central Andes, Peru, such as those generated by the agricultural andenes in the district of Cabana in the Sondondo Valley (Lucanas, Ayacucho). These transformations are designed at various ecological levels with specific climatic, geographical and environmental characteristics, and are of great socio-cultural, natural-environmental-ecological and economic value. However, these high landscapes with agricultural structures are damaged by lack of funding or institutional support to rural communities, as well as by climate impacts. Heterogeneous human interventions through sustainable uses of land, water and biodiversity at different Andean strata, tracing back to pre-Hispanic times, reflect the ancestral knowledge, practices and techniques of the Waris and the Incas. They represent good local practices for conservation and territorial management that, together with innovative action plans, can serve as a model for socioecological transition in order to mitigate and adapt to the negative effects of anthropogenic climate change.