South American Camelids: Their Values And Contributions To People
October 26, 2020 - Vila, Bibiana; Arzamendia, Yanina
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EmailJournal or Book Title: SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE
Volume/Issue: 17
Year Published: 2022
South American Camelids (SACs) make several material and non-material contributions to people and are a key component of the Andean biocultural heritage. From the perspective of the IPBES' Conceptual Framework, SACs constitute the nature component in the complex system of interactions between human societies and the Andean mountain environment. There are four SAC living species today, two of which are wild, or Salqa, in the indigenous cosmovision: guanaco (Lama guanicoe) and vicuna (Vicugna vicugna). Llama (Lama glama) and alpaca (Vicugna pacos) were domesticated 5000 years ago, and are therefore Uywa, in the indigenous cosmovision. Both wild and domestic camelids were, and in several cases still are, the most highly appreciated resource for Andean livelihoods. Historically, camelids and their contributions have been used by Andean people since the peopling of the Americas over 11,000 years ago. In this paper, we present three case studies (chakus for vicuna management, llama caravans, and llama nanobodies) to bring attention to the essential role of vicunas and llamas for Andean communities today, their intercultural linkages with the Western world, and telecoupling interactions.
DOI: 10.1007/s11625-020-00874-y
Type of Publication: Article