Andes

Assessing high altitude glacier volume change and remaining thickness using cost-efficient scientific techniques: The case of Nevado Coropuna (Peru)
Higher temperature and change in precipitation patterns have induced an acute decrease in Andean glaciers, thus leading to an additional stress on water supply. To adapt to climate changes, local governments need information on the rate of glacier volume losses and on current ice thickness. The authors show how volume changes can be accurately estimated in remote areas using...
Adapting to uncertain futures: A report on new glacier recession and livelihood vulnerability research in the Peruvian Andes
The expected outcomes of the collaborative research project, which will continue through at least 2010, are (1) the generation of cutting-edge empirical data and theoretical insights into the current rate and magnitude of climate change induced glacier recession, shifting hydrologic processes, and human livelihood vulnerability and adaptation; (2) the refinement of rigorous...
Water resource research and education in mountain communities
High elevation páramo (wetland) ecosystems in the Andes are important water sources for local communities and downstream agricultural and urban users. These headwater catchments, however, are often impacted by human activities (eg agricultural production) that affect both stream water quality and flow. Knowledge about water availability, quality, and use is essential for effective management but...
Markets, healers, vendors, collectors: The sustainability of medicinal plant use in northern Peru
Northern Peru is the centre of the so-called Andean “health axis,” where the continuous use of more than 500 medicinal plants has been documented. Local healers as well as patients purchase a large portion of their plants at local markets. While scientific studies of medicinal plants are under way, concern has arisen over the preservation of both the large diversity of medicinal plants and the...
CONDESAN: An innovative and multi-institutional Andean platform in continuing evolution

CONDESAN (Consortium for the Sustainable Development of the Andean Eco-region) is a 16-year-old consortium that offers an innovative form of organisation and promotes horizontal integration among nongovernmental organisations, universities, national and international research centres, and governmental agencies from the Andean region. They are innovative and horizontal as they are able to...

The hydrology of tropical Andean ecosystems: Importance, knowledge status, and perspectives

This article highlights the economic and ecological value of the water resource systems of Ecuador’s paramo and montane forest region and gives a description, based on a survey of recent literature, of the mechanisms controlling the rainfall–runoff process and how changes in land use alter the transformation. The review reveals that available understanding is partial, the result of...

Using Water Funds to Finance Watershed Conservation in the Andes and Costa Rica

Water resources are a key environmental service. Water funds are a mechanism to link conservation of watersheds and biodiversity with water utilisation and conservation. Although there are many other environmental services, water, and water funds, can act as proxies or catalysts to protect many others including biodiversity, carbon storage, soils, biogeochemical cycles, pollination, waste...

Using Water Funds to Finance Watershed Conservation in the Andes and Costa Rica

The Nature Conservancy promote water funds to protect land and water, biodiversity, social justice and distributional justice. The institutional mechanism was established which aims to bring together water users to pay for conservation on the voluntary basis. The funds are then used for water benefits, landscape restoration, fundraising and governance. In Ecuador, Fondo para la Conservaci...

Thoughts on the Food Crisis in the Andes

In August 2008, CONDESAN, as a co-sponsor with the Secretary General of the Andean Community’s office, the Andean Initiative of Alliance for the Mountains, FAO, and Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (COSUDE), held an online conference: “The Food Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities in the Andes”.

This article presents some relevant notes and thoughts...

From Chamomile to Aspirin? Medicinal plant use among clients at laboratorios Beal in Trujillo, Peru

Medicinal plant use in Peru can be tracked back for millennia, and although westernized medicine has become an important factor in the treatment of illnesses, many patients still frequent herbalist shops and retain some herbal knowledge of their own. The present study, undertaken at “Laboratorios Beal,” a herbalist practice in Trujillo, Peru, was conducted as a comparison to...

Páginas

Suscribirse a Andes