El cuidado del agua. Llangahua. Parte I.

Water Flows from the Páramos In the Llangahua páramos, in the province of Tungurahua, in the Ecuadorian Andes, at over 4,000 meters above sea level, life begins before dawn. Milking cows, walking among mist-shrouded hills, and cutting grass for the animals are part of the community's routine. But the most important task is caring for the water. The páramos are a vast natural water reserve. Their soils absorb rain and fog, store it, and release it gradually throughout the year, feeding rivers and streams that supply millions of people downstream. Although many have never been to a páramo, we all depend on it. While cities receive the water that originates in these ecosystems, the Kichwa communities of the Tomabela people who care for it continue to live where it springs, with few opportunities and limited access to basic services. The community members of Llangahua first fought to reclaim lands that belonged to a hacienda. Today, their struggle is to conserve the páramo, because they know that without it there is no water and no future. This is the story of a community that protects a territory on which the lives of millions of people depend and that, at the same time, fights for its work as guardians of water to be recognized.