popoli indigeni

A small town in southern Ecuador has solved the drought problem by using an ancient rainwater collection system used in the past by the indigenous people of the pre-Inca era, the Paltas.We are talking about Catacocha, a town located in a province known for its extremely dry conditions.The rains only appear two months a year, between January and February, and climate change is only exacerbating this.The unexpected solution therefore arrived by looking at the past, a an ancient system of artificial lagoons which the native peoples used to cope with the already intense aridity.The local historian who discovered it, Galo Ramón, convinced the inhabitants of Catacocha to apply it and the results were surprising.Nine years later, the change that has taken place is visible. In 2005, the community recreated, on one of the highest points of Catacocha, Cerro Pisaca, this water collection and supply system created by the Palta, an indigenous community that lived in the area more than a thou...

Not only biotechnology, but also indigenous knowledge is capable of developing and conserving crop varieties resistant to climate change.Proof of this is the indigenous Gurung farmers of central Nepal, who are actively working to revive an almost forgotten millet variety but resistant to drought like few others.This is foxtail millet (Italian silk), a grain traditionally grown as a famine crop because it ripens at a time of year when farmers have already harvested everything else.«Foxtail millet is harvested before the monsoon, between June and July, when other crops no longer grow.Unlike other cash crops, however, it needs much less water to grow and requires only three months to be harvested for consumption." he explained Bina Gurung, a farmer from the small village of Ghopte involved in the venture. Foxtail millet, known locally as bariyo kaguno, in the past it was a staple crop in the region, so much so that it was used as a daily substitute for rice.However, in recent d...