Our projects - Peru

Location
Ica, Peru

Partners
A Rocha Peru
Grupo Aves del Peru
Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Offsets
7.5 million tones CO2

The Huarango forests of Peru’s southern coastal desert are among the most highly threatened ecosystems on earth. The department of Ica harbours the best remnant of this ecosystem. Most of the Huarango (Prosopis sp.) forest has been lost to industrial fuel demand and intensive agriculture, and today the remaining relics are being rapidly depleted. However the huarango produces a valuable and highly nutritious fruit that can provide decent livelihoods for local people.

The Huarango is a fast growing hardwood tree that is exceptionally long–lived and can reach more than 1000 years. It is indigenous to the south coast of Peru. Not only is it very resilient, but it is well adapted to extreme desert conditions. It is a leguminous hardwood so it can grow in poor soil. Some varieties have been selectively bred over thousands of years and produce abundant, valuable, nutritious fruit, yet the Huarango is now a threatened species.

This project has enormous potential to lock up carbon. Because it is in a hyper-arid region the trees not only live a long time, but when they die they do not rot down.

Huarango forest urgently needs to be replaced to combat desertification and provide sustainable livelihoods. A Rocha Peru plans to work with the existing project partners by replanting trees while they focus on research, education and campaigning.