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CONSERVATION
In 2003 the forest
was lush and green, in
sharp contrast to the
surrounding hills
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Rescue mission
Oliver Whaley surveys
dead huarango trees –
a result of defoliating
insect plagues
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18 KEW Winter 2009
PHOTOGRAPHS: OLIVER Q WHALEY
Peru’s ancient huarango forests are dying as climate change takes hold. But there is cause for hope, reports
Oliver Whaley, as Kew has been working with local communities to help restore and protect these vital habitats
The same forest in 2008
– most of the trees are
dead, the ground bare
and baking in the sun
ust five years ago I stood here before a
verdant swathe of Peruvian forest that
snaked through the desert and faded
into the shimmering heat, its dark
green canopy alive with birdsong. Today,
every tree here is yellow, grey and dying.
The huarango trees (Prosopis limensis),
the cornerstone of this entire ecosystem,
are standing dead.
I walk, incredulous, through the forest,
trying to assess the problem, testing the
leafless branch tips as I go – if they bend
there’s life in the tree yet, but sadly most
branches snap with a puff of powdery
wood. The forest floor is covered in drifts
of fallen leaves, mixed with wood dust from
beetles. The burning heat at the sun’s
zenith rips into the once cool shade. The
apocalyptic feeling is compounded as the
sweet air of this dry forest is tainted with
the bitter smell of distant charcoal ovens.
The huarango trees in these oases
beside the Río Poroma, Grande, Nasca and
Ingenio, have stood here for hundreds of
years and some for more than a thousand.
The forests themselves have evolved over
millions of years, as this is an ancient desert.
Last time I visited, these relict forest
patches had not yet been touched by the
charcoal, distillery fuel or expanding agricultural industries that have consumed
forests elsewhere, but now something far Davis elaborates that ‘the best way to
more insidious has happened.
address climate change is to preserve and
As disturbance in the forest increased, restore natural ecological systems and stop
the biodiversity and health of the forest had the loss of biodiversity.’ Kew scientists predict
declined, the micro-climate changed, the that a quarter of the world’s plant species
rich harvest of sweet, nutritious huarango are already threatened with extinction.
beans faltered, and so the chainsaws had
Along with these plants, millions of
begun to illegally rip through this place. dependent species are also threatened.
Soon this forest, like most before it, will Most indicators show biodiversity loss is
be gone without an epitaph, with only still accelerating as habitat is fragmented,
wind-swept dunes pouring in over the for- degraded or lost. According to UN figures,
est floor, as though it had
18,000 to 55,000 species
never existed.
‘the best way to address disappear each year, which
Around the world,
between
climate change is to stop is1,000somewhere
scientists witnessing rapid
and 10,000 times the
loss of biodiversity such the loss of biodiversity’
natural rate of extinction.
as this are worried that as
Loathe as researchers are
climate change takes centre stage, time is to descend further into gloom, the biggest
running out. The Earth’s climate and bio- concern now is that as biodiversity is lost
diversity aren’t just related, they’re part of our capacity to adapt to both natural and
the same system, even if cause and effect man-made change will be vastly reduced.
are difficult to gauge. Reports in the media
Peru is one of the countries predicted to
focus on threats such as changing weather, be the most severely affected by climate
sea-level rise and melting ice, which are all change. Its finely balanced ecosystems –
on such a vast scale that they tend to over- which include rainforest, cloud forest, fog
shadow the unseen tragedy of species loss. forest and dry forest – are being noticeably
Like many scientists, Kew’s director Prof- altered, as each one is dependent on comessor Stephen Hopper believes that ‘the plex water-cycling systems that are under
most finely tuned and sophisticated instru- threat. Peru’s extraordinary ecological range
ment we have to gauge climate change is has produced an unparalleled diversity of
biodiversity itself,’ while Kew’s Dr Aaron species and a flourishing culture that reflects
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KEW Winter 2009 19
a landscape that surges from sea level to over
6,500m, from the driest areas of the world to
some of the wettest. What’s happening here
is a real insight into how biodiversity loss
and climate change are already affecting
people and landscapes around the world.
The huarango dry forests in Peru’s
southern desert have undergone centuries
of deforestation and today little is left, but
they are still a vital resource to thousands of
people. They have a delicate ecological balance. In the forest I visited, several years of
insect plagues had tipped the scales and
caused the remaining forest to die. The
impact on local forest-dependent people
has been huge – once-thriving forest homesteads and villages now lie exposed and
abandoned. The huarango bean harvest,
which provided local people with their
livelihood, fell from 350 tonnes in 1993 to
less than eight tonnes in 2008.
Huarango trees grow the longest roots
in the world to tap deep underground water,
fed by distant Andean rainfall. In winter
the trees also capture fog as it drifts
through the night in this land without rain.
They desalinate the soil, provide fertility
and are a key refuge for wildlife (see Kew
magazine, winter 2006). However this capacity to thrive in the driest desert is perhaps
an Achilles’ heel, and the narrow niche they
live in tells us they’re not tolerant of change.
The trees need understorey shrubs to protect
their roots from overheating and to provide
a habitat for birds and wasps that keep the
trees free of diseases and insect plagues.
A Kew project based in southern Peru
that aims to restore habitats and aid the
Despite their resilience,
huarango trees suffer
when livestock remove
the understorey
sustainable use of forests has recorded the
views of local people. Their message is loud
and clear – the local climate and biodiversity are being rapidly and drastically
affected. Many of their stories offer stark
insights, from a hard-working rubber tapper protecting his rainforest from the
Inter-Oceanic Highway, to shepherds in
Puno, where last year temperatures plunged
to -20°C for the first time, and people had
to tie ichu grass (Stipa ichu) around the eyes
of their baby alpacas to prevent blindness
as a result of the freak snow.
But it’s not all bad news. There is reason
to hope, as people find ways to adapt, and
they welcome what organisations such as
Kew can provide, be it advice on seed
storage, species identification, or planting
to recover impoverished soil. Work is
under way to ensure the conservation of
the huarango trees – thousands of the
most resistant huarango varieties have
been planted, together with tough, soilrestoring local tree species and ancient
domesticated fruit trees.
Using these species the Kew project has
rolled out a programme of school and community planting, and restoration trials.
Dedicated and enthusiastic local people
have been encouraged to take ownership of
the project through both the Huarango
Festival, which is now held every April, and
an education programme.
To try to stem biodiversity loss, Kew
has helped set up a number of small
government-supported reserves. With dedicated local students and expertise from
Kew and North America, plant surveys have
‘My father told us he remembers the foothills
of Coropuna covered with trees, and between
the trees there were ponds and green grass.
Today we only have a few patches, but they
remind us how wonderful it must have been.
‘Once some scientists came from Bolivia –
they reckoned that one tree was 500 years
old. Unfortunately it was cut down last
week. I try to talk to people and beg them
not to cut more trees down, as there is no
fresh grass like we used to have, and the
ponds no longer form – the few trees that
are left are sacred to us. The deer, the
pumas and now the snow cap of Coropuna
– all these wonders are disappearing.’
Guillermo Escolástico Góngora Becerra –
a farmer and defender of the queñuales
trees (Polylepis) in Andaray, Arequipa
Above: impoverished
people resort to making
charcoal from tree roots
to sell as barbecue fuel
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PHOTOGRAPHS: OLIVER Q WHALEY, CLAUDIA LUTHI, EL CLIMA CAMBIA, MI VIDA TAMBIÉN, PERU (MINISTERIO DEL AMBIENTE, PDRS-GTZ, SPDA, DED)
CONSERVATION
When huarango trees
are felled for charcoal,
many dependent
species are also lost
Right: the insecteating turtupilin
(Pyrocephalus rubinus)
is still commonly seen
‘Before, I rented some land near my
small farm to plant crops, but I
couldn’t keep up the repayments on
my loan from the bank. I fell into
depression and moved to Lima. But
the doctor recommended that I go
back to the countryside, where
I can live in peace.
‘I returned to my little farm, where
I rebuilt my hut and planted more
huarango trees. From their fruit
I make a sweet syrup called
algarrobina, which I eat. The trees
give me joy, I feel good and live
happily. It’s sad to kill a tree,
because it’s like a person.’
Amelia Evangelina Aparicio
de Alfaro – a farmer in Nasca
‘There was once a lot of forest
– everything was green, but the
people cut down the trees to
make charcoal. In the past the
weather wasn’t very cold, but
now it is, and it gets very windy.
‘The trees I planted protect my
house made of woven reeds.
My husband likes to rest for
a while in their shade when
it gets really hot.
‘The waste from the copper mines
is bad for our livestock. If there
weren’t any plants, how much
worse the pollution would be!’
Rosmery Oré Arangoitia
– a goat-breeder in
Trancas, Nasca
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CONSERVATION
Native trees are raised for
replanting, with ongoing
support from the
charity Trees for Cities
Huarango trees are
at the heart of the
community, used for
food, fuel and fun
Below, centre: huarango
beans are sweet and
highly nutritious,
even unprocessed
Below: Consuelo, from
the project, teaches
local children about
useful native trees
Local people are
encouraged to join in
and ultimately take
control of the project
Right: simple, efficient
methods have been
developed for growing
native tree species
PHOTOGRAPHS: OLIVER Q WHALEY
Huarango festivals
with exhibitions, food
and music are proving
popular and successful
revealed more than triple the number of
plants previously known for the region,
including critically endangered and new
species. Studies have identified seed dispersers and plant pollinators, and the crucial
role of birds and lizards in the restoration of
habitats, all of which will help to protect
these forests. Importantly, in a large region
that has lost much of its native forest, the seed
of hope has been sown, as families begin a
new tradition of planting useful native trees.
In Peru many cultures and lives are still
intricately connected to nature. People who
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have lived on the same land for many generations know what many of us have long
forgotten – how to work with nature in
order to adapt and survive, using old and
new knowledge to understand and manage
plant diversity wisely.
There are no simple solutions to crises
such as these, but experience shows that
listening to local people creates vital connections that generate rewards. The UN
has designated 2010 the International Year
of Biodiversity, so there is no better time for
us to look at how much we value life on
Earth. All over the world, Kew is finding that
biodiversity is melting away, but when people and funding agencies collaborate across
borders and cultural divides they can solve
seemingly insurmountable problems.
n
Oliver Whaley is a habitat restoration
project manager at Kew
You can find out more about Kew’s work in Peru by
going to www.kew.org/science/tropamerica/peru
and also by going to news.bbc.co.uk and typing
huarango into the search
Kew tackles biodiversity loss around the world
Launched in 2008, Kew’s Breathing Planet Programme (BPP) has several key
aims, one of which is to team up with other organisations to target regions
that are affected by climate change, deforestation and biodiversity
loss. Surveying, seed collecting, propagation and habitat-restoration
research programmes will help people maintain and restore ecosystems
and assist agricultural sustainability. The BPP gives global access
to the essential information and cutting-edge research that Kew
provides. Kew works with 800 organisations in more than 100
countries to this end. See www.kew.org/breathing-planet for details.
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