Projects
Ecological Park of Carcanavi (Achocalla) La Paz, Bolivia
M. Teresa Camacho-Hull and Angelo Ciotti, Collaborating Artists
The project is an environmental, educational and sports/recreational park. One of the main features of this project is the reclamation of Laguna Kollpacota, located in the community of Carcanavi (Marquiviri) in the province of Achocalla, La Paz, Bolivia.
This land and lake reclamation project is a collaborative enterprise of the Community of Carcanavi in Achocalla, Bolivia; the authorities of the Office of the Mayor of Achocalla; national and local professionals, volunteers, experts and students of two universities: the Institute of Fine Arts of Pittsburg and the Universidad Mayor de San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia.
The ancient Laguna Kollpacota fills to a reasonable level only during the three-month rainy seasons. Following the rains, the water level gradually drops until only a marshy pool remains. Several years ago an attempt was made to create a soccer field out of the lakebed by trucking in approximately four feet of soil and installing goal posts. Mother nature foiled this plan by converting the soccer field into a swamp for most of the year and a hard-baked irregular field during the dry season. Now, neither a lake nor a sports field benefit the community; domestic animals as well as migratory birds have lost their drinking water/habitat.
The community of Carcanavi would like to reinstate, on a smaller scale, the lakebed to a reasonable level with water suitable for fish and animals, establish a soccer field, which will be on higher grounds to avoid flooding and construct an educational activities building for local school use and meetings of the community and cooperatives. The project will include the recovery of traditional flora/fauna species of the area. Education programs will encompass traditional values such as ceramics, textiles and farming methods. This project will substantially raise the level of environmental awareness, not only in this 70-family subsistence-farming community, but also, as an example for the neighboring communities, awakening in them the desire to focus on the conservation of the environment and the satisfaction and pride that such an achievement would provide.
