DoomsdaysCW<p>Lessons from the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Incas" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Incas</span></a>: How llamas, terraces and trees could help the <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Andes" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Andes</span></a> survive <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateChange" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateChange</span></a></p><p>by Alex Chepstow-Lusty, August 26, 2025 </p><p>Excerpt: "The evidence shows that from around the year 1100, during a period of global warming known as the Medieval Climatic Anomaly, Andean communities moved higher up into the mountains. They built terraces, irrigated slopes, and planted trees such as alder to make the soil more fertile and provide wood.</p><p>"Llamas and their cousins, alpacas, were vital as they were hardy, light-footed, and supplied wool, fuel and fertilizer. Their communal dung heaps even show up in the lake sediments, revealed by spikes in fossils of certain dung-eating mites that thrived when llama caravans were pastured nearby.</p><p>"Together, these practices stabilized soils, reduced erosion, and allowed large populations to thrive in the Andes." </p><p>[...]</p><p>"When the Spanish arrived in the 1530s, this balance was upended. New livestock—cattle, sheep and goats—trampled vegetation and eroded soils. Their free-ranging herds left waste across the landscape, unlike llamas and their easily-collectible dung.</p><p>"At the same time, the Spaniards cut down forests for timber and charcoal, in contrast to the Inca who had imposed harsh penalties to protect their woodland resources. The 17th century Spanish pastor and chronicler, Bernabé Cobo, remarked that a Spanish household used as much fuel in one day as a native household would in an entire month.</p><p>"The lake sediments record the ecological damage of the era: excess nutrients from dung, more erosion, and a collapse of the Inca's sustainable land management."</p><p>Read more:<br><a href="https://phys.org/news/2025-08-lessons-incas-llamas-terraces-trees.html" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">phys.org/news/2025-08-lessons-</span><span class="invisible">incas-llamas-terraces-trees.html</span></a></p><p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SolarPunkSunday" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SolarPunkSunday</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TerraceGardening" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TerraceGardening</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TraditionalKnowledge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TraditionalKnowledge</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TraditionalEcologicalKnowledge</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/ClimateAdaptive" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>ClimateAdaptive</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/LessonsFromThePast" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>LessonsFromThePast</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/SustainableLandManagement" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>SustainableLandManagement</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MedievalClimaticAnomaly" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MedievalClimaticAnomaly</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MoreTrees" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MoreTrees</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Colonialism" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Colonialism</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/IndigenousHistory" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>IndigenousHistory</span></a></p>
