Why Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water...

[DGUtley]

Why Peru is reviving a pre-Incan technology for water...

Peru is turning to ancient indigenous techniques and natural ecosystems to keep its taps running, as climate change threatens to dry out its water supply.

Pre-pandemic, in the austral winter, I drove north out of Lima, up into Peru's highlands to the village of Huamantanga (wa-mon-TONG-a). I was traveling with scientists who were studying local farmers' use of a
1,400-year-old technique to extend water availability into the long dry season. The Andes Mountains are one of six places in the world where complex civilisations emerged, spurred by precipitation so seasonal it was a catalyst for hydrological innovations again and again. People cultivated deep knowledge of water and the underground, deploying strategies that still astonish – and which some still use.

Several years ago, desperate for water security, the country's leaders did something radical: they passed a series of national laws requiring water utilities to invest a percentage of their customers' bills in "natural infrastructure". These funds – called Mechanismos de Retribucion por Servicios Ecosistemicos (Mechanisms of Reward for Ecosystem Services) or MRSE – go to nature-based water interventions, such as restoring ancient human systems that work with nature, protecting high-altitude wetlands and forests, or introducing rotational grazing to protect grasslands. Before, it was considered a misuse of public funds if utilities invested in the watershed. Now it's required.

This is their story: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/2...tm_source=digg


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