Swiss alpabzug: How pastoral traditions and climate adaptation intersect in alpine agroecology
Original framing: “Alpabzug! Swiss mountain alpaca herding – in pictures” — The Guardian - Environment
Seasonal herders in Switzerland—often **migrant workers from Eastern Europe**—are invisible in alpabzug narratives, despite their role in maintaining the system. Women herders, who historically managed alpine huts (*Sennen*), are now excluded from decision-making, mirroring global trends where **female pastoralists** are sidelined in climate adaptation policies. The alpaca’s novelty also **displaces local sheep herders**, whose livelihoods are framed as 'obsolete' despite their ecological contributions.
The alpabzug is a **climate-adaptive tradition** caught between two narratives: one that romanticizes it as folklore, and another that could radicalize it as a **decolonial agroecological model**.
The Swiss state’s historical erasure of indigenous alpine peoples mirrors today’s **neocolonial repackaging** of Andean knowledge as 'Swiss innovation,' while migrant herders—who keep the system running—remain invisible. Solutions must **repatriate ecological knowledge** (e.g., Andean *chaku* territories), **redistribute land rights** (via pastoralist legal personhood), and **revalue labor** (through cooperative carbon economies). The trickster here is the alpaca itself: a symbol of Andean resilience now herded by a system that claims tradition while ignoring its roots. To move forward, Switzerland must choose between **aestheticized pastoralism** and **ecological reparations**—the alpabzug’s future depends on it.