Alpacas Being Used To Help Secure Water Supply for Quito Ecuador

Posted on February 8, 2017 • Filed under: Agriculture, Ecuador, Enviromental Issues

(Thomson Reuters Foundation)DAILYMAIL.CO.UK – High on Ecuador’s Andean plains, the Comuna Espejo co-operative is counting on a recent delivery of 20 woolly alpacas to keep its moist grasslands in better shape than the sheep that normally graze there – and in turn help secure water supplies to the nearby capital city of Quito.

“Little by little, we’re going to see the impact the alpacas have, but they’re easier to manage than sheep and the degradation is less,” said Henry Carrera, vice president of Comuna Espejo, now home to 18 female and two male alpacas.

SPANISH SLANG ECUADOR – READ THE BOOK – SPEAK LIKE AN ECUADORIAN

Besides selling wool, and eventually meat from the camelids, Comuna Espejo hopes to attract tourists with the alpaca project, which forms part of the Quito Water Fund’s plans to conserve the watersheds around the city some 30 km (19 miles) away.

Quito’s fund, the first to be set up under the auspices of U.S.-based environmental group The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in 2000, has provided a model for nearly 60 cities around the world to boost water security from the source to the sink. Read Article

Share This Story
  • Print
  • Digg
  • StumbleUpon
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Yahoo! Buzz
  • Twitter
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Add to favorites
  • email