Wasserbedarf und Wasserverfügbarkeit aus Gletscherschmelze im tropischen Callejón de Huaylas, Peru – Eine gemeinsame Fallstudie von Humangeographie und Hydroglaziologie (Water Demand and Availability from Glacial Melt in Tropical Callejón de Huaylas, Peru – A Joint Case Study of Human Geography and Hydroglaciology)

Melt water from glaciers provides sufficient water availability in the Peruvian Cordillera Blanca even outside the rainy season, which is an important basis for agriculture to cope with the very high variability of precipitation. Climate change-related changes in ecosystems and crop growing conditions, modernization and liberalization policies in agriculture, as well as postcolonial discrimination against rural indigenous populations and the concomitant out-migration of young people from rural areas make it difficult to sustain agricultural practices. Dominant local and national discourses, closely intertwined with global ones, increasingly explain the decline of agriculture in terms of climate change and “help” agriculture adapt. Narratives of Andean groups that understand social and natural dynamics in a broader context and explain them from a combination of observed and mythical explanatory patterns are thus marginalized and considered unreasonable and ignorant. Local knowledge is thus delegitimized and remains unheard.