Peru - Aridification and Landscape Modification: Lessons from the Past
Submitting Institution
University of CambridgeUnit of Assessment
Geography, Environmental Studies and ArchaeologySummary Impact Type
EnvironmentalResearch Subject Area(s)
Earth Sciences: Geology
Biological Sciences: Ecology
History and Archaeology: Archaeology
Summary of the impact
Palaeoenvironmental research in the Ica Valley of Peru's southern coast
is revealing how
agriculture acted with climate change to trigger major social upheaval in
the past. This history
is informing and educating people and policy-makers in the present,
thereby sustaining
sympathetic land use for the future. Specific impacts include a
Defra-funded project on
Peruvian biodiversity by the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew (RBG), the
implementation of
Peruvian decrees regarding education and forest conservation, and the
establishment of
forest-management agreements with major landowners.
Underpinning research
Research by Charles French (Professor of Geoarchaeology, of the
University of Cambridge
since 1992) and David Beresford-Jones (employed by the University of
Cambridge as a
postdoctoral Research Associate 2005-2008 and 2011-present) has produced
palaeoenvironmental, soil/sedimentary and archaeological data in Ethiopia,
New Mexico and
Peru indicative of a long-term climatic trend from a damper and
well-vegetated environment to
the currently prevailing semi-arid, almost desert-like, conditions (e.g.
French et al. 2009;
Beresford-Jones 2011). Throughout, people have learned to cope with the
drying landscape in
terms of subsistence agricultural life-styles. This research has informed
modern education
policy as well as land-use and policy decisions.
As one example, archaeological research in the lower Ica Valley carried
out in collaboration
with RBG (2005-2010: Beresford-Jones, researcher at Cambridge; Whaley,
researcher at
RBG) shows that the river valleys of the south coast of Peru were, prior
to c. 2500 years ago,
covered with riparian woodland, dominated by Prosopis and Acacia
trees. The study
combined satellite and ground survey and mapping of archaeological sites,
geomorphological
survey, archaeological excavation and archaeobotanical analysis
(Beresford-Jones 2011;
Beresford-Jones et al. 2011). These both relied upon, and
informed, study of today's
vegetation by RBG (Whaley et al. 2010).
Together, they reveal a history of gradual human-induced change whereby
riparian woodland
was cleared for agriculture, exposing this landscape to the effects of
major El Niño/La Niña
climatic perturbations. These led to erosion and de-watering on an
extensive scale, forcing the
abandonment of irrigation and agricultural systems that had flourished
here for at least 500
years. They culminated in a period of major social upheaval with the
collapse of Classic
Nasca culture and the incorporation of the area into the Wari Empire c.
1300 years ago
(Beresford-Jones 2011). Today, similar self-enhancing feedbacks between
social and
environmental changes are afflicting the Ica Valley (Whaley et al.
2010).
This initial research is now being expanded to encompass the whole of the
Ica River Valley
system from the high Andes to the Pacific coast in order to examine wider
agricultural and
settlement responses to this combined track of deforestation and
aridification over the past
three millennia (2012-2015: French, Beresford-Jones and Lane, PI and
researchers,
Cambridge).
References to the research
(in alphabetical/chronological order)
Key Research Outputs:
1. Beresford-Jones, D.G. 2011. The Lost Woodlands of Ancient Nasca: A
Case-study in
Ecological and Cultural Collapse. (British Academy Postdoctoral
Monograph Series.)
Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN: 9780197264768
2. Beresford-Jones, D.G., Whaley, O.Q., Alarcón, C. and Cadwallader, L.
2011. Two
millennia of changes in human ecology: Archaeobotanical and invertebrate
records from
the lower Ica Valley, south coast Peru. Vegetation History and
Archaeobotany 20: 273-
292. INT1* category peer-reviewed journal on the European Reference Index
for the
Humanities. DOI: 10.1007/s00334-011-0292-4
3. French, C., Periman, R., Scott Cummings, L., Hall, S., Goodman-Elgar,
M. and Boreham,
J. 2009. Holocene alluvial sequences, cumulic soils and fire signatures in
the middle Rio
Puerco basin at Guadalupe Ruin, New Mexico. Geoarchaeology 24(5):
638-676. INT1*
category peer-reviewed journal on the European Reference Index for the
Humanities.
DOI: 10.1002/gea.20278
4. Whaley, O.Q., Beresford-Jones, D.G., Milliken, W., Orellana, A., Smyk,
A. and Leguia, J.
2010. An ecosystem approach to restoration and sustainable management of
dry forest in
southern Peru. Kew Bulletin 65: 613-664. International
peer-reviewed publication with an
H Index of 19 according to the SCImago Journal and Country Rank. DOI:
10.1007/s12225-
010-9235-y
Research Grants:
1. Beresford-Jones, D.G. `Ica Valley, Peru', British Academy
Postdoctoral Grant (RG42899),
2005-2008, £97,729.
2. French, C. (PI), Beresford-Jones, D.G. (PDRA), and Lane, K. (PDRA), `Ica
Valley, Peru',
Leverhulme Trust, 2012-2015, £376,460.
*INT1 — International publication with high visibility and influence
among researchers in the
various research domains in different countries, regularly cited all over
the world.
Details of the impact
David Beresford-Jones' postdoctoral research on the archaeology of the
south coast of Peru
informed and provided part of the scientific basis for a Defra-funded,
Darwin Initiative Project
(assisting countries rich in biodiversity but poor in financial resources
- like Peru - to meet
their biodiversity objectives) led by RBG: Habitat Restoration and
Sustainable Management of
Southern Peruvian Dry Forest. This project (2006-2009), in which
Beresford-Jones was the
archaeobotanical collaborator, has had impact of major reach and
significance in the Ica
province (c. 300,000 population) in the areas of education,
environmental conservation and
habitat restoration between 2008 and the present.
In the area of education the natural heritage of the Ica Valley and its
intimate relation to the
long cultural heritage of the region are now part of the school curriculum
in Ica. Policy 27.5 of
Peruvian government decree Resolución Supremo Nº 001-2007-ED
(January 2007) regarding
the National Education Project to 2021 calls for the "making [of]
permanent activities of
environmental education in the communities", with the objective of the
"promotion of healthy
ecosystems viable in the long term and sustainable development of the
community through
prevention, protection and restoration of the environment". This policy
has been implemented
in the REF period with, for example, use of the school textbook Sembrando
un Futuro (co-
published in 2010 by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and Borrador of Lima,
Peru) and the
initiation of annual huarango (Prosopis) festivals. The latter,
attended annually by several
thousand people, include exhibitions about sustainable products, desert
ecology, local natural
history and biodiversity - in addition to music, theatre, storytelling and
competitions for poetry
and drawing.
In the campaign against deforestation, the work of Beresford-Jones on the
ecology and
cultural importance of the genus Prosopis contributed to the
latter's inclusion on the list of
endangered wild tree flora given statutory protection by the Peruvian
government in 2007
(Decreto Supremo Nº 043-2006-AG Annex 1). It revokes all
permissions to make charcoal
from Prosopis trees, and explicitly prohibits their felling
for any purpose. The long-term
impacts of the Cambridge research are becoming increasingly apparent in
conservation and
habitat restoration, particularly reforestation. For example, a 513 ha
dry-forest reserve
(National Conservation Area) in Tunga, Nazca has been established enabled
by the
Resolución de Intendencia Nº 199-2007-INRENA-IFFS (5 September
2007), and tree-nursery
and habitat-restoration areas have been established under management
agreements with
major landowners (e.g. Agrokasa S.A. fundo, 2008; Usaca, Nazca, 2008;
Lanchas, Pisco,
2010; Samaca, Ica, 2006-2010 with 3000 huarangos planted).
Authorization to conserve the 513 ha reserve was granted by the Peruvian
Government to the
NGO Asociación Civil Grupo Aves del Perú. The NGO is, together
with RBG, planting
huarango trees in the area and educating local families regarding the
negative environmental
and economic consequences derived from the felling of these trees. Changes
in locals'
attitudes towards huarango-cutting are already being felt, as illustrated
by (1) an article in the
New York Times in November 2009 about these conservation and
education initiatives and
their underlying research, (2) a report in Correo in April 2011
that the Ica Tourism Police took
a coordinated response to stop charcoal production from huarango trees
around Villacuri, and
(3) the decision by a major local landowner to donate £376,460 to match
the
French/Beresford-Jones Leverhulme Grant (2012-2015) so that they can
expand their work
on deforestation and aridification in the Ica River Valley system.
Changing local attitudes to deforestation remains an ongoing challenge,
but the growing local
awareness of the effects of reforestation is allowing many of the newly
planted trees to grow
undisturbed, giving rise to ever more visible evidence for the local
population of the long-term
economic benefits for them of significant dry-forest habitat restoration.
Sources to corroborate the impact
(in alphabetical/chronological order)
- Local benefactor. One River Project handling of funding and
payment schedule [letter].
(Personal communication, 27 November 2012).
- Consejo Nacional de Educación. Ministerio de Educación, República del
Perú. 2007.
Resolución Supremo Nº 001-2007-ED. Proyecto Educativo
Nacional al 2021: La
Educación que Queremos para el Perú (`National Education Project
to 2021: The
education that we want for Peru') [pdf]. Available at:
<http://www.minedu.gob.pe/DeInteres/xtras/PEN-2021.pdf>
[Accessed 11 July 2013].
- Conservamos Por Naturaleza. n.d. Asociación Civil Grupo Aves del Perú
- Cuidemos el
Bosque para los Niños (`Let's look after the forest for the children')
[online]. Available at:
<http://www.conservamospornaturaleza.org/asociacion-civil-aves-del-peru/>
[Accessed 11
July 2013].
- Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. 2008. Habitat
Restoration and
Sustainable Management of Southern Peruvian Dry Forest. Darwin
Initiative Project
Report [pdf]. Available at:
<http://darwin.defra.gov.uk/documents/15016/18367/15-016%20FR%20-%20edited.pdf>
[Accessed
11 July 2013].
- Edward, O. 2008. Getting to the root of the problem. Geographical
Magazine [online].
June. Available at: <http://www.geographical.co.uk/Magazine/Kew_in_Peru_-_June_08.html>
[Accessed 11 July 2013].
- Grupo Epensa. 2011. Destruyen horno de carbón de huarango. Correo
[online]. 7 April.
Available at : <http://diariocorreo.pe/ultimas/noticias/CORREO-833473/edicion+ica/destruyen-horno-de-carbon-de-huarango>
[Accessed 2 July 2013].
- Romero, S. 2009. Ecosystem in Peru is losing a key ally. New York
Times [online]. 7
November. Available at:
<http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/08/world/americas/08peru.html?_r=0>
[Accessed 11
July 2013].
- Sistema de Información Ambiental. Ministerio del Ambiente, República
del Perú. 2006.
Decreto Supremo Nº 043-2006-AG. Aprueban Categorización de
Especies Amenazadas
de Flora Silvestre (Regional Government ordinance revoking all
permissions to make
charcoal, and prohibiting the felling of Prosopis trees)
[online]. Available at:
<http://sinia.minam.gob.pe/index.php?accion=verElemento&idElementoInformacion=158&idformula=>
[Accessed 11 July 2013].
- Sistema Peruano de Información Jurídica. Presidencia del Consejo de
Ministros.
República el Perú. 2007. Resolución de Intendencia Nº
199-2007-INRENA-IFFS:
`Establishment of 513 ha. huarango forest reserve in the Tunga Usaca
region of the Rio
Poróma, Nazca' (5 September 2007) [pdf]. Available at:
<http://spij.minjus.gob.pe/Normas/textos/031007T.pdf>
[Accessed 11 July 2013].
- Whaley, O., Quinteros, Q., Álvarez, H., Borda, C. Tenorio, M., Pérez,
E., Pecho, O.,
Orellana, A., Salvatierra, F. and Gómez, C. 2010. Sembrando un
Futuro - Restauración y
Manejo Sostenible de los Bosques y la Naturaleza de Ica, Perú
[pdf]. Lima:
Borrador/Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Available at:
<http://www.kew.org/science/tropamerica/icaperu/restauracion_libro.pdf>
[Accessed 11
July 2013].