irrigation system’s management. This means that every member must use water in an appropriate and responsible way. In this context, the rights in water management belong to individuals or families within collective decisions. Customary law is dynamic and brings an adequate level of integral river basin management.

In irrigation systems, water plays an important socio-cultural role. It is an essential element linked to family and social cohesion, expressed in many rituals and festivities carried out around the water. This socio-cultural function is directly related to resource productivity.

In the cosmogony of the Andean peoples, the spiritual dimension is linked to all human activities, and water is one of the most important elements. Water is a being who belongs to no one but belongs to everyone, and its “being” is an expression of flexibility and adaptability. The various sources of water (the sea, the lakes, the rivers, the lagoons, etc.) are sacred spaces and places of creation and fertility. “Water belongs to the land that bathes” is a principle of the Andean vision. Gushing from the sources, the water irrigates the distinct ecosystems it crosses, integrating them into the same spatial unity. The religious and organizational characteristics of Andean societies, based on collective work for agricultural activities and irrigation, have formed a “water culture,” which still exists today.

For these reasons, re-construction, maintenance, cleaning the canals, and most of the rural activities are celebrated through community festivals, at the beginning and end of each part of the agricultural cycle (sowing, harvesting, plowing, etc.).

The cleaning jobs are aimed at removing debris from canal beds and cutting weeds and dried leaves that have fallen into the canals and reservoirs. This work is done in a festive context, and, in many communities studied, the “water festivals” are fertile propitiatory ceremonies linked to the agricultural cycle in which the traditions guaranteeing water distribution are maintained and ratify the water rights and irrigation obligations. The festivities, rites, and legends reaffirm the bonds of friendship and exchange between different communities, making it possible to settle the reciprocity system among the members.

8.4The Terrace Landscape Debate

The second International Conference on Terraced Landscapes, held in Peru in May 2014, was an opportunity to convey initiatives and projects related to terraced landscapes, which were no longer receiving the attention from institutions and NGOs that they had received in the 1980s and 1990s. Some studies in terraced valleys had continued working to recover and increase productivity. In the conference, farmers, researchers, professionals, government officials, and students from all over the world gathered to carry on an intercultural dialogue about the current state of terracing, investigating how to use and keep the terraces, production linked to agrobiodiversity, and the culture of the Andean peoples.

A space was created for the participation of farmers from different communities, who described their own valleys (see Fig. 8.4), exposing their problems concerning

presented in a series of proposals and future policies for the terraced landscape. Farmers have also identified critical points in their perceptions:

i.Lack of formal and informal education on terraced landscapes and their different characteristics and benefits for communities.

ii.Supermarkets substituting local markets, the latter of which have a greater diversity of crops.

iii.Weakening community organization due to migratory processes and individualization.

iv.Limited attention and support from national, regional, and local governments, which give priority to the neoliberal economic models of mining that have seriously damaged territorial and social structures.

v.Inadequate water distribution and health risks caused by lack of drinking water and the socio-economic conditions of families already facing extreme climatic conditions.

vi.The need to recognize the “living heritage” of terraced landscapes.

After analyzing these critical issues, some thematic questions emerge. Is there a debate, concerning terraced landscapes, that involves Peru? What problems underlie the situations and phenomena mentioned above? Who is interested in the future of terraced agriculture?

8.5Conclusions

Terracing systems are widely used by rural communities in the inter-Andean valleys and present themselves in slightly different ways throughout the territory. These systems are the main agents modeling the Peruvian territory, a landscape of extraordinary beauty which is often exposed to degradation and abandonment due to structural, social, and economic consequences.

The results provided by AgroRural are still valid qualitatively and quantitatively. However, the study’s poor dissemination does not allow scholars, or the famers who collaborated with the program, access to important information.

The speed and breadth of the environmental consequences generated by both climate change, terrace abandonment, or the loss of water collection and distribution, have mediumand long-term impacts on the production system’s sustainability on the terraced slopes.

To restore these areas, common strategies are needed between different actors (communities, public and private bodies, etc.) who desire not only preserving terraced structures but also making these places favorable in terms of production and services to improve the quality of life of the millions of people who live there. It is important to disseminate and implement strategies and policies to enhance these landscapes, through awareness, redevelopment and improvement, and dissemination of their culture and the heritage to which communities, and the entire nation, are heirs.

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