Page 175 - ce_cusco_2019

as having a high level of rusticity and salt tolerance and, as a result, are highly suited to the harsh conditions

of the Andean highlands (Ruiz et al. 2013). However, with the growing demand for quinoa from the western

world comes an increase in productivity in Peru and Bolivia, quinoa’s centres of origin and diversity,

potentially at the expense of other crops.

It can be argued that the rusticity and nutritional content of quinoa makes it an excellent candidate for

maintaining food security in the face of the challenges presented by climate change. As shown by a study

carried out by Baldinelli (2014), the fluctuations in rainfall patterns caused by a changing climate can have

severe impacts on crop yields. In this study, it was observed that Quinoa plots surrounding Lake Titicaca were

becoming increasingly more vulnerable to flooding throughout the wet season and, as a result, large failures of

this drought tolerant crop have been recorded in recent years.

With precipitation levels expected to increase in much of Peru and Bolivia, this poses a serious threat

to the stability of local quinoa production and may potentially see mass cultivation move overseas to areas less

susceptible to rising moisture levels, such as the Himalayas or North Indian Plains (Ruiz et al. 2013). Not only

will many Peruvian communities lose a valuable source of food and income but, with demand in the West still

rising and local farmers increasing plantings of quinoa to compensate, there is a real and immediate danger to

the food security of many communities in the Andean highlands.

Climate change is also generating a change in species distribution and dominance in relation to

differing environmental tolerances (Young 2009). This will transfer directly to the agrobiodiversity of the

highlands with climate change affecting connectivity among different land cover patches, which is highly

valuable in preserving genetic diversity of crops and without it, variation may decline (Young 2009). This will

result in populations that are more susceptible to disease and changing environments because of this genetic

bottleneck. The key to understanding changes to the humanized landscape of the Andes is the anthropogenic

influences that have occurred in the region (Young 2009). Over the thousands of years of human settlement,

there has been inadvertent selection pressures placed on plant species, particularly those of which that have

been domesticated. As a result, the survival of Andean crop species in future years will depend largely on

175