The soils of Torotoro, nestled between the high valleys of Potosí, are direct witnesses of a Cretaceous era full of life. With footprints dating back 80 million years, this municipality of Charcas is nicknamed “Land of Dinosaurs.” “Ancestral Paths” is the winning project of the 2021 Local Innovators Contest, which seeks to present its natural wealth to the world and reduce the exodus of the communities that inhabit it. The team is made up of park rangers from the Torotoro National Park (PNT) and the Caminnos social enterprise, who devised a digital solution that is already underway.
“Our challenge is to promote the economic, tourist and productive development of the municipality of Torotoro through the public and private support of strategic allies that work under the same guidelines of sustainable tourism. This is to generate more businesses and jobs in the community that translate into economic income for families,” explained the park ranger. Beatriz Quispe, one of the promoters of the initiative.
Sustainable tourism in Torotoro
“Ancestral Paths” seeks to introduce the rural art of the communities on digital platforms as an opportunity to promote tourist attraction. The objective? Develop new sustainable economic models that allow local traditions to be preserved – in harmony with nature – and prevent the migration of residents to large urban centers.
In Torotoro they already released the first virtual experience to experience the ancestral paths of the “Land of dinosaurs” from anywhere in the world. There, a digital art co-creation process was carried out, which generated pieces in 3D modeling and Pixelar. They were tokenized and exhibited in three Criptoarte galleries. The park rangers generated content for the virtual tourist tour, which allows the visitor to immerse themselves in the landscapes, the natural wealth and learn about the footprints of dinosaurs that occupied the territory millions of years ago. All in real time.
The process is carried out with as few intermediaries as possible so that the benefits reach the communities directly. In other words, the intention is for its members to be true protagonists in profitability and not employees of foreign investors.
exchange networks
“The gap between the social entrepreneur and the government was closed. Through exchange network meetings we generate a very powerful bond. Synergies were generated and the dialectic of civil organization vs. municipality was broken; We enter as a team. We didn't know if it was going to work, but it became a strength," he said. Alejandro Trujillo, executive director of Caminnos, when valuing the initiative promoted by the Ayni collective – Systemic Innovation Communities, an alliance created between Latin American organizations with a strong commitment to innovation and the transformation of cities (*).
“With this project we want to work on virtual experiences to connect rural communities with the world, and make our culture, history, arts, nature and unique landscapes known through Esariri platform. There is also a signed agreement to provide training to communities and take art to another level thanks to Blockchain technology. Artistic expressions of the NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) type will be created,” he explained. Thomas Calahuma, tourist and also a park ranger in the PNT.
Torotoro park ranger.
The commitment to sustainable development and community tourism in Torotoro, where 26 communities live, it is already a reality. The winning team of “Dinosaur Land” traveled to New York between April 25 and 29, 2022 to expand your horizons and is found in the Local Solutions Marketplace looking for financing.
