Predicción de Eventos Ambientales a través del Conocimiento Tradicional en los Andes

The past generations engaged with the natural-spiritual world. A practice that still persists to some extent is the "Tero-tero" (Vanellus resplendens), a small and friendly bird that accompanies the path of humans to announce dangers and good news, serving as a source of inspiration, wonder, and support for agricultural endeavors. The study explored the interpretation of local communities regarding the signals of the Tero-tero in predicting environmental events, while they strive to counteract the fading connection between birds and humans as a historical legacy. The ethnographic research collected information over three years in the Peruvian highlands through participatory observation and in-depth interviews with elderly shepherds and farmers regarding the relationship between local communities and the small bird. Various flight patterns, melodic songs, and nesting behaviors in open fields were observed as mechanisms for agricultural prediction. The results obtained reveal that the actions of the Tero-tero, as a predictor of environmental events, guide agricultural activities for Andean inhabitants. Its signals, sounds, nesting behaviors, and movements, while subjective, anticipate climatic changes. Consequently, it can be concluded that the predictions of the Tero-tero are partially fulfilled concerning the occurrence of environmental events in the Andes. Therefore, the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples, such as the relationship between birds and humans, is a historical legacy that can address the triple environmental threat (environmental adversity, political crisis, and climate change). These aspects should be considered in the practice of ecological agriculture for the sake of socio-environmental sustainability

Geography · Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond