Along with SERNANP (the Peruvian national parks service) and project sponsors REI Adventures, Mountain Lodges of Peru and its NGO Yanapana Perú successfully completed the first step toward the reforestation of the Andean highlands in Cusco by planting 100,000 new seedlings in the Salkantay River basin.
On December 10th, 2019, Mountain Lodges of Peru hosted an event at the Yanapana greenhouse and Salkantay Lodge in Soraypampa to inaugurate the new ‘One Million Trees for Machu Picchu’ project. In attendance were representatives from Mountain Lodges of Peru, Yanapana, many political authorities and local leaders, as well as 250 volunteers who planted 50,000 trees on this day alone.
“We are very proud and excited to have broken ground on this project, especially as concerns are growing for the Andean highlands in relation to climate change, recent fires and erosion,” stated Enrique Umbert Olazabal, Co-founder & Manager of Mountain Lodges of Peru.
“In continuing our mission to create both social and environmental sustainability solutions in the Andean highlands, we also plan to extend this initiative to the Lares region which will become part of a wider network of reforestation efforts in that area. Our commitment to the protection of this sacred land is a priority and we are confident that the ‘One Million Trees for Machu Picchu’ initiative will make a huge impact.”
Mountain Lodges of Peru and Yanapana Perú’s initial goal will be to develop a greenhouse in Huacahuasi that would create a sustainable source of income for the community as suppliers of seedlings for ECOAN (Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos), who have committed to purchasing them for their own reforestation campaigns.
The ‘One Million Trees for Machu Picchu’ reforestation project was created and will be managed by SERNANP (Servicio Nacional de Areas Naturales Protegidas) and the head of the Machu Picchu National Park, along with the political sponsorship of the Peruvian environmental ministry, the Regional Governor of Cusco, and a group of the aforementioned local mayors and political leaders. The goal is to restore the forests in the region that have been affected by unlawful appropriation of this rich natural resource, as well as the carbon footprint left by the millions of visitors to the Cusco region each year.