Here below you find the second circular from the coordinator of the International Alliance for Terraced Landscapes:

Dear friends of ITLA, this is a new circular letter from Peru.

We visited several terraced landscapes areas in Peru, like the terraces of Huancayo, Andamarca in Ayacucho, Raqchi in Cusco and the Colca Valley, where the next World Conference of Terraced Landscapes and Cultures will be organised in 2013. Yesterday we held the first meeting of the organising team at the Catholica University of Peru here in Lima. The outcome has been:

Establishment of the Organising Team:John Earls and Ana Sabogal (Catholic University), Hilda Araujo (CITPA), Mourik Bueno de Mesquita (Centro Bartolomé de las Casas - Cusco), Efraín Malpartida (Agrarian University La Molina), Carlos Loret de Mola (Cusichaca Andes), Aquilino Mejía (Desco-Sur - Arequipa), Maruja Salas and Timmi Tillmann (ITLA)

Formation of the Support Group under the leadership of Carmen Felipe Morales, with Luis Masson, Braulio Latorre, Elías Mujica, Juan Torres et alii. Local groups were proposed for case studies and the identification of local experts from peasant communities in Peru. Pending is the constitution of the International Committee formed by representatives of the different countries affiliated to the ITLA

Place and venue of the Conference: Chivay, the capital of the Colca Valley, which offers a diversity of hotel accommodation and meeting facilities.

Time: We will check when is an appropriate date for the Conference looking for the best rates of low season in 2013.

Topics:
 Water and Climate Change
 Agro-biodiversity
 Food Sovereignty and Organic Agriculture
 Social organisation of managing soils, water, labour and seeds - reconstruction of terraced landscapes
 History and Cultures of terraced landscapes
 Political context - laws and regulations - role of the state
 Methods of inventory of terraced landscapes - GIS, PGIS, mapping, on site verification

Format of the World Conference:
 Pre-Conference Excursions to Terraced Landscapes in different regions of Peru (3 - 6 days)
 Conference in Chivay - Working groups (3 days)
 Farmer expert forum - indigenous peoples dialogue (1 day)
 Community video screening and film festival (1 day)
 Clearinghouse on Terraced Landscapes Issues (1/2 day)
 Public Seminar (1 day) for students in Arequipa after the Conference

The Peruvian group plans to organise a first National Workshop on Terraced Landscapes in Peru on October 6th 2011 in Lima. The aim of the first National workshop is to design the World Conference and prepare the first announcement of the World Conference and to analyse the state of the art of the terraced landscapes in Peru and establish a road map for Peru with regard to:
 Inventory of Terraced Landscapes
 Development of local case studies in different regions of Peru and involvement of student groups of different disciplines of different universities from Peru
 Identification of farmer experts for Terraced Landscapes and Agrobiodiversity
 Complement the already existing Bibliography on Terraced Landscapes
 Publish pending articles from previous Terraced Landscapes Seminars (2007) in Peru
 Organise the website and blog for the Next World Conference on Terraced Landscapes (Mourik Bueno de Mesquita and Carlos Steinmetz)
 Work plan for the Conference and organisation of local workshops in different regions of Peru.

We will return to Germany tomorrow. Our next steps for ITLA will be to visit Slovenia (Lucka Azman) from June 9th to 13th and to meet with the Italian section of ITLA in Liguria from June 20th to 21st. Early July we plan to disseminate a small document on ITLA to ask for further affiliations from more countries and terraced landscape lovers to join ITLA, and asking for voluntary involvement of the International Committee.

Attached please find some pictures of our recent visits to terraced landscapes in Peru.
 Photo 1: Colca Valley
 Photo 2: Huancayo circular terraces
 Photo 3: Raqchi terraces in Cusco
 Photo 4: Terraced Community Andamarca in Ayacucho

Best regards, Timmi Tillmann and Maruja Salas

May 25th 2011

Timmi Tillmann
Advisor of Right Livelihood College at
CenPRIS - Center for Policy Research and International Studies
Universiti Sains Malaysia 11800 Penang MALAYSIA - Tel: +604-653-2043 - Fax: +604-659-1624 - E-mail: TimmiTillmann@gmail.com