Sajama National Park (Spanish: Parque nacional Sajama) is a national park located in the Oruro Department, Bolivia. It borders Lauca National Park in Chile. The park is home to the indigenous Aymara people, whose influential ancient culture can be seen in various aspects throughout the park. It holds many cultural and ecological sites, and is a hub of ecotourism.
Sajama National Park is Bolivia's oldest national park.[1] The park lies within the Central Andean dry punaecoregion.[2] It features a spectacular Andean landscape, with elevations of 4,200–6,542m (13,780–21,463ft). It contains the snowy cone of the volcano Sajama, the highest mountain in Bolivia at 6,542m.[1] The park also includes the Payachatavolcanic group.
Queñoa trees in Sajama National Park
The area was declared a nature reserve in 1939 because of the native Queñoa de Altura trees that grow on the hillsides of this region.[3] This shrub-like tree has adapted to the high elevations and harsh climate of the Andes.[4] At the time that the area was declared a national park, rampant harvesting of this tree was taking place to create charcoal to supply Bolivian mines.[1]
On 1 July 2003, the park was added to the UNESCOWorld Heritage Tentative List due to its universal cultural and natural significance.[3]
Aymara people
The Aymara people are indigenous to the Bolivian and Peruvian Altiplano, and make up a quarter of Bolivia's population.[5] Latest estimates predict about 300 families in the affluence zone of the park and about 100 in the park's interior.[3] Much of the Aymara population participates in llama and alpaca herding and yarn spinning. Circular houses, traditional to the Aymara, can still be found today. The Aymara people also have the unique tradition of handing down historic textiles through the generations as inherited wealth.[6] Because the Aymara people rely so heavily on the natural environment, they take on a protectoral role regarding its use. For example, the Aymara recently protested against the Dakar Rally, an off-road race taking place through Bolivia's salt flats for the first time. The Aymara cited fears of environmental damage from litter and ruts in the white landscape from the vehicles as cause for concern.[7]
The Aymara have traditionally been an underrepresented group since colonial times. They fought alongside the victorious liberal party during Bolivia's Civil War of 1899.[8] However, the Aymara are still being targeted. One current example of the struggle between the Aymara and the Bolivian government is the use of the coca plant by the Aymara. The Aymara have grown coca plants for centuries, using the leaves in traditional medicines and rituals. Over the last century, the Bolivian government has done its best to restrict this process due to fears of cocaine production. While coca cultivation for traditional practices is legal in Bolivia, there has still been strife and conflict between the government and the Aymara people due to this plant.[9] When the practices of poor, disenfranchised, or indigenous people is demonized or condemned, there is often heavy dispute and strife between the two sides.[10] By targeting the Aymara's use of the coca plant, the Bolivian government could be helping to create an even bigger problem and contributing to unrest. Small populations with little political power are often viewed as “inferior”, and can easily be blamed for an array of different problems, from political, to social, to environmental.[11]
The plight of the Aymara people has further been complicated with the election of Bolivia's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, in 2006. Morales was born into an Aymara family of subsistence farmers. In 2009, Morales helped enact a new constitution. The new constitution names Bolivia as a secular state, rather than a Catholic one as the previous constitution stated. It also recognizes a variety of autonomies at the local and departmental level, which many argue gives people like the Aymara more freedom. However, there has been some backlash against the constitution. Many opposed to it claim that it is "Aymara-centric", and not applicable or appropriate for all Bolivian citizens and is actually ostracizing.[12]
The Aymara people who have lived in this region since before colonial times have a special bond with the environment and landscape of the park. However, some may question the effectiveness of protected areas when considering socioeconomic impacts on surrounding communities. Regulating the use of protected land may harm the livelihoods and cultures of those people who cherish it the most. However, recent studies in Bolivia have shown no evidence that the establishment of protected areas has exacerbated poverty. If anything, these studies conclude, estimates indicate that communities that are affected by protected areas have experienced greater levels of poverty reduction when compared to similar unaffected communities.[13] Therefore, the presence of Sajama National Park and its management committee may help the Aymara people, giving them power to protect their environment and the organisms that inhabit it.
Environment
The area is typically very dry, receiving less rainfall than half the climatic demand. There are also very cold nights in this arid region, with frosts occurring well into the typical growing season. The Bolivian altiplano is not very conducive to productive agriculture. Only hearty crops like tubers and grains such as quinoa can grow in this area, and even then they are not extremely successful.[14]
The Queñoa forests that rise along the slope of Sajama Mountain in the park are regarded as some of the highest forests in the world.[1] There are numerous geysers and hot springs (Aguas Termales) which are about an hour's walk from the village of Sajama.
Research
The icy cap of Mount Sajama, Bolivia's highest point, has enabled a variety of scientific endeavors. The recovery of ice cores from the summit in 1998 offered a unique look at historic South American climatic and atmospheric conditions, and marked the first time that this information of this kind has been available for a location with a tropical latitude.[15] Data from these cores indicates an increase in many atmospheric heavy metals, likely caused by anthropogenic sources.[16] The presence of these metals could be due to the production of non-ferrous metal. Significant in countries such as Chile or Peru, the emissions from this industry have decreased in recent times.[17]
Wildlife
Sajama is home to a unique set of organisms peculiar to the alpine regions of the Andes. Plants and animals must be able to handle high altitudes with less available oxygen, cold nightly temperatures with frosts well into spring, little shade or protection from the elements, and arid, dry conditions. One example of unique wildlife in the park is the vicuña, a species of camelid related to the llama and the alpaca. These animals are prized because of their soft and warm, but extremely lightweight fur. Historically, only Incan emperors were allowed to wear their wool. Indigenous populations in the area still continue a rich cultural tradition of myths, legends, and rituals involving the vicuña.[18] Once poached to near extinction because their fine, valuable wool, they are now protected in the area and their numbers are rebounding.[19] The area is also home to armadillos, viscachas and spectacled bears. The park has been designated an Important Bird Area (IBA) by BirdLife International because it supports significant populations of puna rheas, Chilean and puna flamingos, horned coots, diademed plovers, Andean condors and giant conebills.[20]
Climate
Climate data for Cosapa, elevation 3,922m (12,867ft), (1977–2013)
Source: Servicio Nacional de Meteorología e Hidrología de Bolivia[21][22]
Tourism
Because agriculture is not a viable source of income for many of the people in this region, they have been forced to look for other income options. Ecotourism can significantly aid natural places with weak economies, and help to generate an economical way to promote preservation. However, certain elements should be provided in order to ensure profitable and safe ecotourism. These elements, which are not exclusive or explicitly limiting, include culturally appropriate opportunities for local people, secure land tenure, and a focus on themes broader than simply provided economic opportunity.[23] Arrangements between the Aymara people and the rest of the management committee for the park have helped to ensure extensive planning and local participation in decisions is taking place, but admittedly plans are not always perfect. Even when using the most optimistic of scenarios, SERNAP concedes that a fair number of indigenous people will have to leave this region in order to assure a minimum livelihood.[1] In situations like these, every cost and benefit of ecotourism must be carefully weighed.
Ecotourism can be defined in a variety of ways, but broadly it is travel that has the object of enjoying features of what is seen as the natural, beautiful, and exotic environment. Main themes of ecotourism also involve sustainable activities and behavior that results in minimal negative consequences for the environment.[24] Until recently, tourist activity in the park has been relatively nonexistent. The park is located far from any urban centers, and surrounded by mostly undeveloped land lacking infrastructure. However, a focus area for the co-administrative management committee is the creation of sustainable and responsible income-generating practices. For example, the Tomarapi eco-lodge opened in 2003, and provides local food and lodging for between 2000 and 3000 visitors a year. The lodge is currently managed entirely by native Aymara villagers.[1]
This area of Bolivia also features the Sajama Lines, mysterious lines covering the altiplano, etched into ground over thousands of years by the ancient ancestors of the Aymara people. The lines are estimated to be about 16,000 kilometers in length, roughly three times the breadth of the United States. The lines are thought to have been used as ancient pilgrimage routes.
The park is also scattered with cultural treasures and remnants of the Aymara's ancient culture. Chullpas, tall funerary towers devoted to noble Aymara families, dot the landscape. These shrines are thought to have been deliberately placed in visible areas to ensure reverence and remembrance for the dead.[25]Pucaras, ancient fortifications, can also be found.
Management
Bolivian law defines protected areas as “natural areas with or without human intervention, declared under state protection by law, in order to protect and preserve the flora and fauna, genetic resources, natural ecosystems, watersheds and values of scientific, esthetic, historical, economic, and social interest, in order to conserve and protect natural and cultural heritage of the country.”[13] As all protected areas in Bolivia are inhabited, nature conservation is not possible against the will of the local people. It is necessary to take their traditional rights, existing value systems and social organization into account.
The reserve is jointly administered by park service officials and the indigenous people, the Aymara. However, the collaborative efforts between the Aymara and the Bolivian national parks authority (Servicio Nacional de Áreas Protegidas, SERNAP) did not begin until 1998, when SERNAP was formed. Sajama National Park did not have a formal administration nor park rangers until 1995, and relations between the Aymara people and this early park administration was essentially nonexistent due to top-down approaches and policies.[1] Sajama's co-administrative Management Committee now includes representatives from each of the communities, the sub-alcaldía (local administration's decentralized office in Sajama village), the mayor of Curahuara de Carangas, a representative of the prefectural administration, and delegates from different NGOs active in the area.[1]
From the beginning, this diverse committee laid out fairly detailed plans to ensure that their economic and conservational goals were met. The original committee members believed that the success of the park depended upon the incorporation of three things: planning, participation, and projects. Planning regulations and developing a "horizon" for the park was a long and arduous process, but it brought the diverse group of people closer together. The planning and discussion helped to eradicate previously held prejudices between the Aymara people and the newly instated park rangers. Through dialogue, often new ideas and techniques for management and conservation can surface. From the aspect of planning, municipal, regional, and traditional authorities, as well as community members are required to participate in the management of Bolivia's national parks. This ensures that the voices and views of all stakeholders are clearly acknowledged. This process also increases trust between the different inhabitants of the area, because they know that they are playing a role in the process. Finally, projects are aimed to generate income while offering alternative livelihoods that employ a more sustainable use of biodiversity resources.[1]
Besides ecotourism, there have been arrangements to create initiatives for the sustainable management of the park's vicuñas.[1] Vicuña fur is extremely valuable, with scarves of their wool costing well over $1,000. However, it is slow growing and may take anywhere from 2–3 years to regrow to a commercially viable length after shearing.[26] By caring for the vicuñas, the Aymara deepen their connection to their environment and create a continuing means for income. However, the trade of vicuña wool is highly regulated, causing slow trade and sometimes even an inability to trade.[1]
While a local management co-administrative approach may seem like a very useful and effective means to protect this land, it also has its detriments. Some challenges to management systems like the one in place in this park are unclear roles, distrust, and poor communication, which has been seen in Sajama.[27]
Quinoa is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins and dietary minerals in amounts greater than in many grains. Quinoa is not a grass but rather a pseudocereal botanically related to spinach and amaranth, and originated in the Andean region of northwestern South America. It was first used to feed livestock 5,200–7,000 years ago, and for human consumption 3,000–4,000 years ago in the Lake Titicaca basin of Peru and Bolivia.
Ecotourism is a form of nature-oriented tourism intended to contribute to the conservation of the natural environment, generally defined as being minimally impactful, and including providing both contributions to conservation and environmental education. The definition sometimes also includes being financially beneficial to the host community or making conservation financially possible. There are a range of different definitions, and the correct definition of the term was an active subject of debate as of 2009. The term is also used more widely by many organizations offering nature tourism, which do not focus on being beneficial to the environment.
The Aymara or Aimara, people are an indigenous people in the Andes and Altiplano regions of South America. Approximately 2.3 million Aymara live in northwest Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. The ancestors of the Aymara lived in the region for many centuries before becoming a subject people of the Inca Empire in the late 15th or early 16th century, and later of the Spanish in the 16th century. With the Spanish American wars of independence (1810–1825), the Aymaras became subjects of the new nations of Bolivia and Peru. After the War of the Pacific (1879–1883), Chile annexed territory with the Aymara population.
Quechua people, Quichua people or Kichwa people may refer to any of the indigenous peoples of South America who speak the Quechua languages, which originated among the Indigenous people of Peru. Although most Quechua speakers are native to Peru, there are some significant populations in Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, and Argentina.
Madidi is a national park in the upper Amazon river basin in Bolivia. It was established in 1995 with a total land area of 18,958 km2. Together with the nearby protected areas Manuripi-Heath and Apolobamba and the Manu Biosphere Reserve (Peru), Madidi is part of one of the largest protected areas in the world.
Lauca National Park is in Chile's far north, in the Andean range. It encompasses an area of 1,379 km2 of altiplano and mountains, the latter consisting mainly of enormous volcanoes. Las Vicuñas National Reserve is its neighbour to the south. Both protected areas, along with Salar de Surire Natural Monument, form Lauca Biosphere Reserve. The park borders Sajama National Park in Bolivia.
The puna grassland ecoregion, part of the Andean montane grasslands and shrublands biome, is found in the central Andes Mountains of South America. It is considered one of the eight Natural Regions in Peru, but extends south, across Chile, Bolivia, and western northwest Argentina. The term puna encompasses diverse ecosystems of the high Central Andes above 3200–3400 m.
Laguna de Cotacotani or Quta Qutani is a lake located in the Andean Altiplano of the Parinacota Province, Arica-Parinacota Region, Chile. It lies 4 km northwest of Chungará Lake, which is one of the highest lakes in the world and is surrounded by several volcanoes, such as the Payachata volcanic group, Sajama volcano and Wallatiri.
Turco Municipality is the second municipal section of the Sajama Province in the Oruro Department in Bolivia, and was founded on February 15, 1957. Its seat is Turco, situated 154 km west of Oruro at an altitude of 3,860 m. The municipality covers an area of 3,973 km², not taking into account the area of Laca Laca Canton.
The Central Andean dry puna (NT1001) is an ecoregion in the montane grasslands and shrublands biome, located in the Andean Altiplano in South America. It is a part of the Puna grassland.
Waru Waru is an Aymara term for the agricultural technique developed by pre-Hispanic people in the Andes region of South America from Ecuador to Bolivia; this regional agricultural technique is also referred to as camellones in Spanish. Functionally similar agricultural techniques have been developed in other parts of the world, all of which fall under the broad category of raised field agriculture.
The Eduardo Avaroa Andean Fauna National Reserve is located in Sur Lípez Province. Situated in the far southwestern region of Bolivia, it is the country's most visited protected area. It is considered the most important protected area in terms of tourist influx in the Potosí Department.
Tourism in Bolivia is one of the key economic sectors of the country. According to data from the National Institute of Statistics of Bolivia (INE), there were over 1.24 million tourists that visited the country in 2020, making Bolivia the ninth most visited country in South America.
The Lupaca, Lupaka, or Lupaqa people were one of the divisions of the ancestral Aymaras. The Lupaca lived for many centuries near Lake Titicaca in Peru and their lands possibly extended into Bolivia. The Lupacas and other Aymara peoples formed powerful kingdoms after the collapse of the Tiwanaku Empire in the 11th century. In the mid 15th century they were conquered by the Inca Empire and in the 1530s came under the control of the Spanish Empire.
Kunturiri is a volcano in the Andes on the border of Bolivia and Chile which rises up to 5,762 metres (18,904 ft). On the Chilean side it is located in the Arica and Parinacota Region and on the Bolivian side in the Oruro Department, Sajama Province, Curahuara de Carangas Municipality, Sajama Canton as well as in the La Paz Department, Pacajes Province, Calacoto Municipality, Ulloma Canton.
The Indigenous peoples in Bolivia or Native Bolivians are Bolivians who have predominantly or total Amerindian ancestry. They constitute anywhere from 20 to 60% of Bolivia's population of 11,306,341, depending on different estimates, and depending notably on the choice Mestizo being available as an answer in a given census, in which case the majority of the population identify as mestizo, and they belong to 36 recognized ethnic groups. Aymara and Quechua are the largest groups. The geography of Bolivia includes the Andes, the Gran Chaco, the Yungas, the Chiquitania and the Amazon Rainforest.
Food sovereignty is a highly influential idea in Bolivian political discourse. It is incorporated into multiple pieces of Bolivian legislation, including the 2009 constitution drafted underneath president Evo Morales. Food sovereignty fits into Morales' larger goal of the symbolic decolonization of Bolivia. First coined by indigenous and peasant worker advocacy organization Via Campesina, food sovereignty is the right for a state's people to produce and distribute culturally appropriate foods without the impingement of economic pressures created by foreign agribusiness producers. The presence of foreign agribusiness in Bolivia can be traced back to exploitative resource extraction that proliferated in South America with 19th century liberalism. Modern-day wholesale agribusiness production makes competition difficult for Bolivia's small-scale farmers, who often take out high-interest loans and consequently accumulate debt.
Pre-Columbian Bolivia covers the historical period between 10,000 BCE, when the Upper Andes region was first populated and 1532, when Spanish conquistadors invaded Inca empire. The Andes region of Pre-Columbian South America was dominated by the Tiwanaku civilization until about 1200, when the regional kingdoms of the Aymara emerged as the most powerful of the ethnic groups living in the densely populated region surrounding Lake Titicaca. Power struggles continued until 1450, when the Incas incorporated upper Bolivia into their growing empire. Based in present-day Peru, the Incas instituted agricultural and mining practices that rivaled those put in place many years later by European conquerors. They also established a strong military force, and centralized political power. Despite their best efforts however, the Incas never completely controlled the nomadic tribes of the Bolivian lowlands, nor did they fully assimilate the Aymara kingdoms into their society. These internal divisions doomed the Inca Empire when European conquerors arrived.
Nevado Sajama is an extinct volcano and the highest peak in Bolivia. The mountain is located in Sajama Province, in Oruro Department. It is situated in Sajama National Park and is a composite volcano consisting of a stratovolcano on top of several lava domes. It is not clear when it erupted last but it may have been during the Pleistocene or Holocene.
↑ Kuenzli, E. Gabrielle (2013). Acting Inca: National Belonging in Early Twentieth-Century Bolivia. Pittsburgh, Pa.: University of Pittsburgh Press.
↑ Gustafson, Bret (2003). "The Spirituality of Coca". Cultural Survival Quarterly. 26 (4): 51.
↑ Kosek, Jake (2006). Understories (1ed.). Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
↑ Conklin, Harold C (1954). "Section of Anthropology: An Ethnoecological Approach to Shifting Agriculture". Transactions of the New York Academy of Sciences. 17 (2): 133–142. doi:10.1111/j.2164-0947.1954.tb00402.x.
↑ Albro, Robert (2010). "Confounding Cultural Citizenship and Constitutional Reform in Bolivia". Latin American Perspectives. 37 (3): 71–90. doi:10.1177/0094582x10364034. S2CID143357491.
↑ Vacher, J. J. (1998). "Responses of two main Andean crops, quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd) and papa amarga (Solanum juzepczukii Buk.) to drought on the Bolivian Altiplano: Significance of local adaptation". Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 68 (1–2): 99–108. doi:10.1016/s0167-8809(97)00140-0.
↑ Hong, Sungmin; Candelone, Jean-Pierre; Soutif, Michel; Boutron, Claude (1996). "A reconstruction of changes in copper production and copper emissions to the atmosphere during the past 7000 years". Science of the Total Environment. 188 (2–3): 183–193. Bibcode:1996ScTEn.188..183H. doi:10.1016/0048-9697(96)05171-6.
↑ Lichtenstein, G; Baldi, R; Villalba, L; Hoces, D; Baigún, R; Laker, J. "Vicugna vicugna". The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 10 December 2014.
↑ Charnley, Susan (2005). "From Nature Tourism To Ecotourism? The Case Of The Ngorongoro Conservation Area, Tanzania". Human Organization. 64 (1): 75–88. doi:10.17730/humo.64.1.u8fer0aap3ceg4a1.
↑ West, Paige; Carrier, James G. (2004). "Ecotourism and Authenticity: Getting Away from It All?". Current Anthropology. 45 (4): 483–498. doi:10.1086/422082. S2CID224790170.
↑ Bongers, Jacob; Arkush, Elizabeth; Harrower, Michael (2012). "Landscapes of death: GIS-based analyses of chullpas in the western Lake Titicaca basin". Journal of Archaeological Science. 39 (6): 1687–1693. doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.11.018.
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