Analyzing Socioenvironmental Change in Andean Peatlands

Analyzing Socioenvironmental Change in Andean Peatlands (Bofedales) in the Titicaca-Desaguadero-Poopó-Salares (TDPS) Watershed of Peru and Bolivia, or What We Did for Our Summer Vacation. 

Presented by Tom Perreault and Peng Gao, both professors of geography and the environment.

In this talk, we present ongoing research on high altitude peat forming wetlands, or bofedales, on the Bolivian Altiplano. We show our field work conducted in June-July 2025 for supporting a predictive model for land use types within the Titicaca-Desaguadero-Poopó-Salares (TDPS) watershed.

Bofedales are watered by glacial runoff, springs, rivers and seasonal precipitation, and are regionally important ecosystems that regulate water budgets, contribute to local biodiversity, and serve as carbon sinks. Bofedales are also essential for local livelihoods and Indigenous (Aymara and Quechua), as vital pasture for alpacas and llamas. Pastoralists actively manage bofedales, making them true socio-ecological systems. 

Bofedal systems are vulnerable to climate change (which has led to warmer and drier conditions) and socioeconomic change (which has led to out-migration, enclosure of common pasture and the inter-generational loss of traditional knowledge).

As climate change increases deglaciation in the central Andes, bofedales are projected to play a proportionately greater role in hydrologic regulation in the TDPS. Bofedal conservation in turn requires a greater understanding of both (a) the spatial distribution and hydrological and ecological status of bofedal systems at the watershed scale; and (b) the socioeconomic status and bofedal management practices of Indigenous pastoralist communities, who are among the poorest and most marginalized in the central Andes. We present our research results at this stage. 

Zoom link.