The small town of Chipaya in Bolivia paints a bleak picture of the challenges facing the Uru Chipaya people, one of South America’s most ancient civilisations. With the effects of climate change wreaking havoc on their land, this Indigenous community is fighting for its very survival.
Situated 35 miles from the Chilean border on Bolivia’s vast Altiplano plateau, Chipaya is a stark reminder of the devastating impact of drought, rising salinity levels, and mass migration. Once known as the “people of water”, the Uru Chipaya now face an existential crisis as their traditional way of life hangs in the balance.
“We are the first inhabitants of South America,” says Flora Mamani Felipe, Chipaya’s first female mayor. “We are an ancient culture, and we’re now in danger of extinction. There are no jobs; people are migrating to Chile.”
The nearby Lake Poopó, once Bolivia’s second-largest lake and a crucial fishing resource, has completely dried up. Crops are failing, and most of Chipaya’s 2,000 inhabitants have left for Chile in search of work, driven by poverty, cultural erosion, and health problems caused by the increasingly salty water.
“The Uru Chipaya are part of Bolivia’s cultural heritage,” explains Gabriel Moreno, an anthropologist at the Technical University of Oruro. “It’s one of the oldest Indigenous cultures in Latin America, dating back 3,000 to 4,000 years. And at the moment, there is a project intending to declare the Uru Chipaya as the oldest living culture in the world.”
However, the climate crisis is pushing this ancient community to the brink. Drought, floods, frost, and rising salt levels have decimated their traditional livelihoods, killing livestock and wiping out quinoa crops. Severo Paredes Condori, a 63-year-old Uru Chipaya, laments the harsh living conditions: “There are no jobs here, you can’t live here any more.”
The challenge of salinity extends far beyond Chipaya, mirroring the struggles faced by communities in Asia’s mega-deltas, where high soil and water salinity severely undermine agricultural productivity.
According to Chipaya mythology, the Uru Chipaya have always lived near water, and they have developed impressive water management techniques to divert water from the Lauca River. But as the water vanishes, their resilience is being tested.
“There are no birds any more. We used to fish for trout in this river, but there are no fish now,” says Mamani. “Climate change brings floods and droughts. We’re desperate.”
The exodus of the Uru Chipaya people to Chile has led to a loss of cultural identity, with children no longer speaking their native language and abandoning traditional practices. Poverty and health issues, such as diarrhoea from consuming saline water, further compound the community’s struggles.
For Moreno, preserving this ancient culture is a matter of urgency. “The Uru Chipaya people have suffered cultural loss – oral memory, territory and sacred spaces,” he says. “We must protect their oral memory. We must strengthen the bond between elders and young people to work on this.”
As the Uru Chipaya people fight to maintain their centuries-old connection to the land, the future of this remarkable civilisation hangs in the balance, a testament to the devastating impact of the climate crisis on Indigenous communities around the world.