Strengthening rural communities in Peru with a WEF Nexus approach
Making the community of San Pedro de Casta more resilient against climate change by designing their water management and agriculture systems sustainably
How do guinea pigs and the rehabilitation of a gocha/a biological vegetable garden, among others, contribute to food and water security in the rural community of San Pedro de Casta, Peru? By strengthening technologies and capacities for agricultural production with clean energy, Aquafondo shows how this is possible. AQUAFONDO is a multi-sectoral articulation platform whose objective is to promote the conservation, recovery and sustainable use of water sources for the city of Lima and Callao. With the support of the Nexus Regional Dialogues Programme (NRD) LAC, an all-embracing nexus project is being implemented in San Pedro de Casta.
The AQUAFONDO programme aims to adress the several challenges of the region on different levels. Therefore, it builds on these various pillars:
- Communal bio-garden: growing vegetables that will be sold to the community at a lower costs
- Technical breeding of guinea pigs: for consumption and to sell it externally
- Installation of a composting plant: use of gardening waste and manure to use it as organic fertilizer
- Use of solar panels to install a technified irrigation system and for lightning at the guinea pig farms
- Rehabilitation of the Marcahuasi gocha in the highlands: for better water management that contributes to a successful cultivation of vegetables
- Women empowerment: ensuring their active participation in the project