The rainfall in Chile’s Cerro Grande, 400km from Santiago, is half of what it was 100 years ago. As the land has become increasingly desertified, the Peña Blanca Agricultural Community has started thinking of alternatives.
Under the leadership of Daniel Rojas, and supported by the United Nations Development Programme, the community has managed to create a 106-hectare reserve, home to several native plants. How? Water is provided through a fog-catching system, which captures the liquid and stories it in accumulator tanks for use in farming.
“We understood that the mist can be an important source of water, since it has also been for the animals and, lately — due to the great shortage — for domestic use,” Rojas told the UN Development Programme. “We have implemented a centre for fog studies and have been able to participate in various environmental education activities.”
This builds on the success of a long-running scheme in Peru, the result of tireless effort by a local climate engineer to string up ‘mallas atrapanieblas’ (‘fog-catching nets’) for eight months a year in the outskirts of Lima. These nets now provide water for 60,000 families across the region.
Tags: Chile, Drought, Fog