Man and the Biosphere Programme (MAB)
Laguna Blanca
With altitudes that can reach almost 6000 meters above sea level the Laguna Blanca Biosphere Reserve features a typical arid Andean landscape with a saline lake in a main depression and surrounding rocky formations It is located in the province of Catamarca in the northwest of Argentina Its creation in 1979 aimed at the conservation of the vicu?a back then endangered due to poaching This goal led to the elaboration of sustainable handling strategies like reviving the socalled Chaku an ancient Inka practice of capturing shearing and releasing the vicu?as In Laguna Blancas transition areas there are around 600 inhabitants mostly public servants or workers of the rather incipient tourism industry
Argentina -