Reviving Ancestral Water Systems as Andean Glaciers Vanish

Instituto de Montaña (formerly The Mountain Institute's Andes Program, independent since 2020) works with high-altitude communities in Peru's Cordillera Blanca and Nor Yauyos Cochas reserve to restore pre-Incan water-harvesting infrastructure — canals, ponds and 'mamanteo' infiltration systems — that recharges springs and wetlands as glacial melt disappears. Its RETAMA initiative, which pairs this ancestral know-how with hydrological science, won the 2018 St Andrews Prize for the Environment. Under its Mountain Ecosystem-based Adaptation program, work in the Miraflores community grew the Yanacancha wetland from 3 to 7 hectares and directly benefited 80 families (about 400 people), while a related campaign now supports 7 high-mountain communities restoring these systems for long-term water security.