DROUGHT AND FLOODING By Jose Alvarez Alonso (*)
"The ancient sages predicted the growing flowering trees , jumps of 'bounding', the flight of insects in search of tall, egg-laying of Chur to the height where the water comes, singing yacupato followed by early in the morning and afternoon, the nest building wound to the height where the water that evidence helped the villagers to be prepared or prevented, "he writes from Pucallpa Richard Soria, a Shipibo leader and distinguished professional. This year it seems that the sages did not know how to interpret the signals, because the growing huge raging these days the Ucayali took them quite unawares.
Richard explained to me several days ago in Pucallpa that his people do not know how to interpret what is happening: in 2010 the Ucayali suffered the worst drought he could remember, and this year the largest growing reminiscent of the oldest old. People wonder if nature has gone mad. "This is not climate change, climate aggression," said a wise Shipibo when asked if he thought extreme droughts and floods had something to do with the global phenomenon. According
shibipos older, there was not a similar increased from about 25 years ago. More than 80 indigenous communities in the Ucayali region are under water. Many have been abandoned because the water comes to roofs, some inhabitants have come to sleep in his canoe because there was no room under the roof to climb over the Tabladillo. All families in the community of Richard (Panaillo, between the mouth and Aguaytía Callería) except for two old, has gone in search of land and Yarinacocha Pucallpa, where refugees in the thousands, as in Contamana in Loreto. "The most distressing is that the animals die of starvation, and even more dogs, nobody cares about your care, just have to wait for death," writes Richard.
The impact of floods will be felt in the medium term, "Now there is an abundance of wild meat for the poor animals have taken refuge in a few levees, people are tired of beef and opossum, agouti, peccary, but then what ? "says Richard. "The coming years will be more hungry because bush meat."
In years of growing large fish stocks recovered because they had special conditions for breeding and fattening in tahuampas flooded, and it went to spawn fish in lakes internal refugees. However, fewer cars are increasingly "internal" healthy fish populations, and this year the growing came too late: in November and December last year, the regular season playing most finfish that Mijana, water were very low and the fish spawned or not, or not found suitable conditions to hatch their eggs and feed their young fish. In addition, due to overfishing and abuse of toxic, explosive and menuderas networks, adult fish populations are greatly diminished.
Nature Punishment
"Nature does not punish", answered a few days ago a driver of TV presenter colleague comment on the floods and landslides in mountain and forest, "the man is the one for his irresponsibility and lack of foresight occupies areas of risk ". Yes and no: it is true that when someone builds his house on the dry riverbed, sooner or later going to see it destroyed by a flood, and it is that nature takes revenge. However, I personally believe that Nature also punished, it compensates the abuse of human beings. Extraordinary floods in recent weeks are punishing the Ucayali river Pastaza and not solely due to heavy rains: the nearly 10 million hectares deforested and degraded in the high jungle of Peru emphasize the destructive action of water, also the climate change, experts say, is partly to blame for some of the extreme weather of recent years.
If the eastern slopes of the Andes were covered with forests fewer landslides would occur, and thus mitigate extreme drought and catastrophic flooding. The forest not only protects the soil from erosion and sets the ground: it acts like a sponge that stores part of the rainwater and help it to seep into the ground into aquifers. Forest farmers High know very well the effects of deforestation in watersheds where they live: "When I was a child, the river Shilcayo the Cumbaza and other rivers were rivers San Martin not really ever dried up, always had good water flow and we swam in them. Now stop almost dry most of the year, cross on foot. Loaded with water when it rains, but a few hours are dry again, and when heavy rain is becoming a torrent that destroys everything in its path, "my friend told me Henry Gonzales, a biologist at San Martín.
irrational man Richard Soria Wise also has an explanation for the apparent Nature's punishment: "Both large and growing drought are therefore the depredation of the forests, fisheries irrational, the entry of oil tankers and timber with heavy machines, which make beings forest guards to flee the place, it is For the anaconda, which increasingly enters underground. The killing of the alligator and the boa of different colors makes the water go weakening day by day, in the absence of many trees with large roots weakens the earth every day, so erosions occur, the result of irrational man or metallic. "
Growing certainly has brought untold destruction and suffering to many coastal communities, which deserve our solidarity and support. But we also know that whenever floods occurred in the Amazon, and Amazon man had adapted to them admirably, with proper housing and proper techniques of food preservation and storage. It is known how they kept the fresh for months, burying it to cover it with water, and kept for months at Panera quantities of flour coated leaf beans and preserved in jars of clay chiclayo, maize cobs tuchpa above to not moth-eaten, peanuts in bags in the shell ... Also made "Michiro" Fried beef with vacamarina and "loboisma, often cooked with salt fish to melt in a paste-like pate. Today much of that traditional knowledge has been lost, and people just waiting to government grants.
know that floods occur every few years and is increasingly likely to occur as the catastrophic floods of this year due to deforestation and climate change headers. Why the State does not train people to prepare for it, instead of trying to mitigate the damage will donations, provided inadequate food and medicine? The people, at least not go hungry if they knew produce and store their food as the ancients did, and no fish would be missing if they are taught to manage their fisheries and to defend their forests and lakes from predators (men irrational and metal, said Richard Soria ...)
(*) Biologist, Researcher, IIAP. (Article published in the Region)
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