Resumen
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The wayuu indigenous people from middle and upper Guajira* of Colombia consider sheep and goat herding as a cultural tradition. In this paper, we summarise the result of an ethnography of wayuu herding that sought to identify and characterize the local knowledge related to environmental factors that determine management of the herds, or knowledge which locals consider should be taking into account for optimal management of such herds. The ethnographic study included preliminary documenting; the realization of observations, semistructured interviews and focus groups, and the later coding, classifying and categorization of data to be subjected to analysis. Amongst the total of information gathered, ‘climate’ references were 5.9%. During analysis the class ‘climate’ was considered to be part of the larger category (family) of ‘environmental factors’. In relation to data analysis, ‘environmental factors´ corresponded to 9% of total emergent categories (families). ‘Environmental factors’ are thus a relatively important category; and one which is directly considered as part of the wayuu herding cultural tradition. As a result of the ethnography it was revealed that the wayuu possess in-depth knowledge of climatic conditions of the region, and that such knowledge has been used, and continues to be used, to address the problems of mobility and mortality amongst herds; and of course, to sustain yields of goat and sheep flocks. The ethnography further revealed that the wayuu have in the past –and continue to innovate management of pastoral systems with the aim to mitigate the perverse effects that variability and climate change afflict upon their herds. *The Guajira peninsular is a region in the upper corner of South America. Guajira is also the name of a department, a political-administrative unit of Colombia.