Bringing the Inca canals back to life

For nearly 20 years one woman has been battling to restore the elaborate Inca Canals in the Peruvian Andes, which once supported a thriving population of farmers. All over the Peruvian Andes, beautifully engineered Inca-built irrigation canals once distributed water to elaborate terrace systems. In turn, the terraces oases of cultivation on the precipitous and other wise barren mountain slopes provided food for hundreds of thousands.

Today, around the ancient Inca capital of Cuzco, most of these once impressive structures lie abandoned. Over the centuries, canals have crumbled and fallen into disrepair. As a result, the Andes can support only a fraction of the population it fed 600 years ago, encouraging migration to already overcrowded cities.

Since 1977, however, the extraordinary initiative of one woman has rekindled interest in rehabilitating the ancient terraces. In August, Ann Kendall presided over the inauguration of her second fully reconstructed canal. It will provide constant irrigation for some 160 hectares of agricultural terracing and be a prime source of sustenance and income for nearly 350 families, over 2,000 people.