Dear friends and members of ITLA,
it is still 3 weeks until the Second Conference in Cusco and I want to update you on the preparations for the Conference.
1. We are finalising the preparations of the Conference and the draft program of the Conference – see attached. The organising committee is meeting regularly to revise the registrations of the participants and their presentations.
The Conference will occur during 4 days. The first day is split in 2 parts:
during the morning we will have a plenary with the inauguration, the presentation of the Conference, the main presenters for an overview of the terraces in Peru and in the world, the reports about the 4 field trips ahead of the Conference in Lima, Ayacucho and Cusco (2), and an Andean Ceremony to protect the event and the participants.
During the afternoon we are organising a Farmer Forum with more than 50 community members and terrace guardians from Peru, who will present their views about the past, present and future of their terraced landscapes and cultures.
2. The field trips are well organised. There are 4 trips which have been selected: one leaving Lima on the 14th towards Nazca, Puquio, terrace communities in the Southern region of Ayacucho arriving on the 18th in Cusco. The second trip leaves to Nor Yauyos in Lima on the 15th and after the visit the participants fly from Lima to Cusco on the 18th. The third and fourth group will arrive in Cusco on the 13th, attend a preparatory workshop on the 14th afternoon at the Center Bartolomé de las Casas in Cusco and the 2 groups leave on the 15th to their areas – in Moray, Zurite – Piuray and in Patacancha and Cuscichaca, Potato Park – and come back to Cusco on the 18th. The 4 groups will be accompanied by professional researchers and translators, so that the dialogue with local peasants can take place. The field trip participants present their findings and the testimonies of the campesinos on the first morning of the Second Conference.
3. Maruja Salas and myself are in Lima supporting the Organisers of the Conference since April 15. We will be in Cusco (lodged at Pension Alemana in San Blas) from May 6th onwards staying in Cusco until May 23 after the Conference.
4. We will organise a Preparatory Facilitator Training from May 8 to 11 thanks to the funding support from Misereor – Germany and CCFD – France. A group of 15 young professionals will be trained as organisers, guides, facilitators during 4 days to facilitate the thematic sessions of the Conference.
5. The Conference will have parallel workshops to discuss during 4 steps case studies, the history, the problems, the future vision and action plans for each theme. We are offering 5 themes:
The parallel workshops about 1. Water, Soil and Climate Change 2. Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty 3. Terraced landscapes, social organisation and local cultures 4. Traditional and modern technologies and methodologies (incl. GIS and inventories of terraces) will run for 2 days on May 20 and 21, while the fifth theme on Governance and Local, National and International Policies will be attended by all participants on the morning of the 22nd of May.
6. Finally on the last day of the Conference all participants are involved in the conclusions and recommendations of the action plans of the Conference, which will be presented to the public in Cusco during our closing session. The organisers of this Conference on behalf of John Earls and Hilda Araujo will hand over the post to the next organisers in Italy 2016 represented by Mauro Varotto from University of Padua, Italy, as part of ITLA – Italy.
7. There are right now registered about 80 participants, we expect with organisers and students about 150 participants, about one third from peasant communities from Peru, one third from more than 20 countries worldwide, and one third from organisations (academic, policy makers, development projects – bilateral and NGOs) in Peru.
The farmers are funded by the Adaptation Program to Climate Change funded by the Swiss Development Cooperation.
8. The presentations and the discussions of the Second Conference will be published thanks to the funding from JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) after the Conference.
Look into the websites of ITLA
www.alpter.net
and the Conference
http://www.condesan.org/terrazas/en
to view updated information about the Cusco Conference.