PERFECT PERU

"In 2024, the United Nations recognized seven landmark projects worldwide as outstanding examples of success under its ongoing Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030).

One of them was Acción Andina (Andean Action), an initiative that has launched 25 restoration and conservation projects focused on the high-altitude Polylepis forests of Peru, Chile, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Colombia.

More than 25,000 people from 200 communities have restored nearly 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of these forest and protected more than 11,250 hectares (27,800 acres) of existing woodland.

The initiative next aims to expand into Colombia and Venezuela.

...Co-founded by the nonprofit organizations Global Forest Generation and Andean Ecosystems Association (ECOAN), Acción Andina aims to protect and restore high-altitude Andean forests in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador, ensuring the preservation of vital water resources for millions of people across the region.

In fact, last February, Acción Andina was recognized by the United Nations as one of seven flagship initiatives for global restoration. The U.N. has declared 2021-2030 as its Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, emphasizing not only the urgent need to conserve remaining natural areas, but to restore what has already been lost...

“We witnessed immense suffering and hardship in the local and Indigenous communities of the Andes,” Aucca recalls. “So, my friends Gregorio Ferro, Efraín Samochuallpa, Willy Palomino and I decided that if we were going to enter the world of conservation, we had to do something for these communities. That’s how ECOAN was born. What sets us apart from other organizations is that we implement conservation initiatives in direct coordination with local actors — ensuring that our work benefits the communities themselves.”

Among friends and colleagues, Constantino Aucca is known simply as “Tino.” He says 2014 was a turning point for ECOAN, driven by his frustration with the empty rhetoric and lack of action on environmental issues at the U.N.’s series of annual climate summits, or conference of the parties (COPs).

“As a group, we decided to send a message to the world that action is possible,” he says. “In a single day, we planted more than 57,000 [queuña] trees high in Huilloc [in Cusco, Peru]. We called the event Queuña Raymi, or the Festival of the Queuñas.”

From that year on, Queuña Raymi gained traction across the Peruvian Andes, and Aucca never stopped dreaming of expanding the initiative to other Andean countries. “Queuñas grow from Venezuela to Patagonia,” he points out. In 2018, with the support of new international partners, that dream became a reality, giving rise to Acción Andina.

“In 2018 I was deeply interested in facilitating investments in forestry initiatives,” says Florent Kaiser, CEO of the NGO Global Forest Generation. “That’s when I was contacted by Constantino, and he told me about his project. He told me that to truly understand it, I needed to go to Cusco. That day changed my life. He invited me to the Queuña Raymi where, in a single day, nearly 1,000 of us planted almost 100,000 trees.

“I had never seen anything so powerful,” Kaiser adds.

Global Forest Generation was founded alongside Acción Andina with the goal of serving as a strategic ally: amplifying global communication efforts, influencing policymakers, and tackling challenges that often hinder local NGOs.

This partnership between ECOAN and Global Forest Generation has allowed Acción Andina to expand beyond Peru, bringing Aucca’s vision to life across five South American countries. Today, it stands as a U.N.-recognized success story in ecosystem restoration.

“It takes a single chainsaw to cut down a forest, but it takes a community to restore and sustain it,” UNEP’s Andersen said when announcing Acción Andina as one of the U.N.’s seven Flagship Initiatives for Global Restoration. “By bringing people together, and using both Indigenous values and scientific methods, Acción Andina is helping to revive natural water sources, create jobs and support communities to grow even stronger.”

Since 2018, Acción Andina has launched 25 projects, engaging at least 40,000 people in the restoration of nearly 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of Andean forests and the protection of more than 11,250 hectares (27,800 acres) of existing woodland. More than 200 local communities have benefited from expanded economic opportunities through reforestation and conservation efforts. These include the development of community microenterprises, such as tree nurseries dedicated to cultivating queuñas, as well as improved access to health care services, water collection systems, cleaner-burning clay stoves, and solar panels."