Partners lead annual evaluation in our Abancay Landscape

The Regenera team recently travelled to the Abancay Landscape to share with our guardian communities and technical partners, evaluate the work done last year, and set goals for 2024. These were days of much learning that served to strengthen our ties with the men and women who are defending and restoring Andean forests, one of the most diverse ecosystems in Peru.

 

Water Conservation in the Abancay Landscape

The slow and winding ascent to the Rontoccocha lake, located more than four thousand meters above sea level and the main source of water for the city of Abancay, is a lesson in geography. Here, members of the Micaela Bastidas and Atumpata communities have designed the Yaku Ñan, the Water Route, with the help of their technical allies.

At different stops along the route, visitors can see how the water cycle works and learn about the importance of protecting the headwaters where water is generated and stored. We also learned about the importance of protecting the high Andean forests and grasslands, which function as natural sponges that capture and infiltrate water from seasonal rainfall, allowing a constant flow of this precious resource that is used in the lowlands for agriculture, livestock, and human consumption.

The high Andean forests of Ccoya

Once arrived, the large caravan of almost fifty people listened attentively to the explanations given by Conan Kari Damian, technical coordinator of EMUSAP Abancay. This company manages the city’s drinking water and sanitation, through a successful Mechanism for the Remuneration of Ecosystem Services (MERESE). The city’s inhabitants pay a percentage of their bill that is used in coordination with the communities to carry out various projects such as building dams, dykes, reforestation campaigns, and fencing off meadows, among other mechanisms that improve water recharge in the watershed. This has allowed the city of Abancay to have full access to water 24 hours a day in less than a decade.

Guardian communities and technical partners at Lake Rontoccocha

Water makers

The day was completed with a reforestation session of queñuales (Polylepis sp), an iconic tree of the Andean highlands, capable of growing at an altitude of more than 5,000 meters and resisting the harshest weather conditions. The queñuales, as well as many other native species of the Andes, are in a vulnerable situation due to centuries of misuse. Today, knowing the importance of these trees to the ecosystem, the men and women of the communities of Abancay are giving back what was lost.

Reforestation in Rontoccocha

For more than two hours, the entire brigade composed of members of the six guardian communities of Regenera, but also representatives of state entities and allied NGOs, got our hands dirty in black and productive land like few others. If all goes well, in a few years these saplings will cling to the land, securing the soils, and fulfilling their tireless role as water makers.

Talks for Landscape Conservation in Abancay

Although somewhat tired from a very productive morning, and after a lunch of the best trout in the region, we headed to the next event, this time in the city of Abancay. One by one, Regenera’s technical partners and allied organizations presented the results of their programs and projects in the region.

Augusto Ramirez, director of CEDES Apurimac – an NGO of more than 30 years and Regenera’s main partner in the Abancay Landscape – gave an account of the benefits of the work with the six guardian communities and gave a brief overview of how each had joined the initiative. “The landscape approach that Regenera proposes,” he said, “allows us to look for solutions together. Together we can do things better, dialogue more, we are stronger if we all work together for forest conservation.”

Augusto Ramirez presents the results of the Abancay Landscape

Frank Hajek, Regenera’s coordinator, explained how the network has been formed, how it works in each landscape and how the income obtained from the compensation plans of organizations and individuals is distributed. “It is a pleasure to see how the sustainable landscape approach has been permeating the forest restoration actions of our network. This approach is based on agreeing and implementing systems to improve the allocation and management of land to simultaneously achieve social, economic, and environmental objectives,” he said.

He was followed by Natalia Ruiz-Guevara, vice-president of the Latin American Model Forest Network (RLBM), who announced that this year’s annual RLBM meeting would be held in Abancay. The community of San Ignacio de Kiuñalla is part of this organization that seeks to improve forest governance through the articulated work of all the actors in the landscape.

Jaime Valenzuela, head of the nearby Ampay National Sanctuary, gave an account of the actions that the protected area has been carrying out to prevent forest fires, help create shade brigades in neighbouring communities, and participate in environmental education.

Frida Gonzales, from SERFOR, spoke about the forest restoration projects that are being planned in the region by the Sustainable Management of Forest Heritage Directorate, and gave some good news: the first Public Investment Project in restoration will be carried out in the community of Kiuñalla, the first to be a member of Regenera in the Abancay Landscape.

Finally, with night already upon us, Antonio Barazorda, representative of Caritas, told us about a project for the closure of high-altitude pastures carried out as part of a programme of the German Water Foundation. Five Natural Heritage Reserves (REPANAS) have been created, involving the fencing of 700 hectares of high Andean grasslands that protect water sources, and preventing the entry of livestock and other human activities that degrade the grasslands in the headwaters of the basin. In addition, three forestry nurseries have been established, water infiltration beds have been constructed, and farmers have been trained in the efficient use of water. The project has benefited 1,850 people in nine communities in Abancay.

Hope in Kiuñalla

The second day of the Abancay Landscape meeting was held in San Ignacio de Kiuñalla, located three hours from Abancay, in the district of Huanipaca. This rural community was the one that inaugurated the Regenera Landscape and is working not only on the preservation of its extensive Andean forests, but also on the reforestation and restoration of its degraded environments, thanks to the resources it receives from the network and other technical partners. We were welcomed by don Sabino Barretón, a wise man of the community, who thanked us for our visit and told us about the great diversity of their forests.

Here in Kiuñalla, the six presidents of the guardian communities of Regenera presented their accounts of what they have achieved in the past year regarding the conservation of their forests, discussed their main challenges and threats, and outlined their work plans for 2024. They talked about capacity building to take better care of the forests, attention to demands for basic services, education, but above all they talked about a shared future, where forests play a preponderant role in people’s lives.

The mayor of the district of Huanicaca, Ramiro Marquéz, attended the meeting and committed the local government to supporting the communities’ efforts to protect their natural heritage.

Together for the Abancay Landscape

Frank shares a dance with a community member

After a memorable photograph at the scenic viewpoint of San Miguel, which allows for breathtaking views of the Apurimac canyon, the day concluded with a party and joyful dancing to the rhythm of the violin, guitar, and accordion, together in the happiness of having agreed and strengthened our goal for a better tomorrow with Regenera.