In this area llamas have always been the cornerstone for survival because they provide food, clothing and much more. The more and more decreasing availability of pasture and the attractiveness of other export-related income sources are endangering llama breeding. This is a very fragile environment, in which climate change and human activity are likely to break a balance built up over centuries of population permanence in this area. The project aims at proposing the enhancement of the llamas and a more sustainable and rational management of another two resources of the area: vicuna and quinoa. The project shall attempt to develop a model of integrated and sustainable development by diversifying the economic strategies in order to reduce the vulnerability of communities and help restoring the balance between these three resources.

The local population - traditionally linked to the llama breeding - is converting to extensive monoculture of quinoa, an Andean cereals that in recent years has increased its commercial value on the international market. This involves extensive and reckless land exploitation, reducing the prairies devoted to llama grazing. The poor technical skills of the population concerning the production chain of these three sectors (llamas, vicunas and quinoa) do not permit to fully exploit the economic potential of these resources without threatening the delicate local ecosystem; moreover the traditional balance of the management of these resources is breaking down worsening the current situation of poverty.

• Reducing the level of extreme poverty in rural areas involved in the project and increasingsocial cohesion through economic and institutional strengthening of indigenous communities

• Increasing the productive capacities of the AZCCA Tomave members (the local association of camelid breeders) in the framework of a sustainable developmentquinoa) of the main sources of income (llamas, vicunas and

• Realizing a sustainable planning of integration between domestic, wild and agricultural species, thereby increasing the family income

• Increasing the productivity of the llama breeding and the processing of the fiber in order to diversify the sources of income, increasing the production of meat and enhancing the sale of yarn

• Disseminating the knowledge of the vicunas, their possible sustainable use and open new sales channels to offer families an additional source of income

• Disseminating knowledge about the possible damages done by an intensive and extensive cultivation of quinoa and starting a sustainable model of cultivation of such cereal

DATA SYNTHESIS

Location: Bolivia, Departement of Potosí, Province of Antonio Quijarro, Municipality of Tomave Duration: 30 months Total value: 654.147 € Main donor: European Commission Partner: ISALP - Investigación Social y Asesoramiento Legal Potosí (Ong boliviana) Other bodies involved: Consorzio Arianne AZCCA (Asociación Zonal de Criadores de Camélidos) Tomave