Guardians of Glaciers
Project Details:
Ice constitutes the second largest source of freshwater on the planet and 70 percent of the
world’s tropical glaciers are found in Peru. Located in Cusco, the Quelccaya Ice Cap is the
largest tropical glacier in the world, covering an area equivalent to more than 9,000 soccer
fields. However, due to accelerated melting it is receding by 60 metres a year and some studies
have determined that it will disappear in the next 30 years if global greenhouse gas emissions
are not reduced.
“It is important for everyone. For those who live in Cusco, for all of us who are here in Phinaya.
Because without the glacier, without water, we do not live. It would affect, above all, our children
and grandchildren. They are the ones who will be most affected by climate change. It makes me
very sad. The Quelccaya is like my father, my mother. Protecting it is an honor for me. Adds
Yolanda Quispe, park ranger of the Quellcaya glacier.
Guardians of Glaciers tells the story of a community in the Peruvian Andes struggling to adapt
to the climate crisis. Against wind and drought, and just as their ancestors adapted to these
mountains centuries ago.Nowadays, the Peasant Community of Phinaya (Cusco, Peru) leads a
conservation area and guards the Quelccaya glaciar.
They seek to protect their snow-capped mountains through ancestral knowledge and rituals of
the Andean worldview, which over time are also disappearing.
The thaw not only threatens the continuity of life in Andean communities, but also puts certain
species at risk of extinction, as these areas are inhabited by a range of aquatic and terrestrial
species.
The report opens the doors of a Quechua community that lives the direct and daily
consequences of deglaciation. It tells how the disappearance of the ice affects the lives of park
ranger Yolanda Quispe and her family. How these villagers experience water shortages and live
with the growing threat of losing their only source of income: Alpaca breeding.
I am in constant communication with the community and this will allow me to portray the
importance of the issue and at the same time explain that there is still hope in recovering the
mountain ecosystems through technologies and knowledge inherited from the ancestors.
About:
Angela Ponce (1994) is a documentary photographer and photojournalist based in Peru. She
focuses on long-term projects that approach Latin American social issues, political conflicts,
environment, disability rights and memory. Currently she is a contributor for The New York
Times and her work has been published in The Washington Post, Die Zeit, The Guardian,
Bloomberg, Reuters, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Getty Images, El Pais, La Croix, Aljazeera and
others.
Contact:
Instagram: @angelaponce_photo
Location: Peru