Peru

Read the message from Mr Rafael Rey, the Production Minister of Peru here .

Mr Rafael Rey (2nd right) meets Mr Hamid Bayazi (2nd left) and Prof. Constantino Giorgetti (right)

First trees are planted as part of Tolerance International’s Reforestation Programme in Peru.

Working with the top authorities on rain forest studies such as the Institute of Investigation of the Peruvian Rainforest in South America we have taken the following approach: if you want to look after the forest you must first look after the people responsible for it – the locals.

Our programme is not a hand out. Simply giving does not work as it is not a long term solution.

We have developed a system to both provide the locals with their immediate needs and also lay the foundations of long term sustainable economies. In the process, these local communities will reforest and maintain vast areas of the Peruvian Amazon.

We use that money as an incentive. If you plant a tree, you receive payment. This ensures that the local community is involved immediately.

Each tree needs to be maintained, so every month the tree is checked and a maintenance fee is paid to the original planter. This gives a residual income and ongoing responsibility.

If the village as a whole meets its target it receives a bonus which can be used towards a small project.

For every £1 paid, a small percentage is put aside as a sort of trust fund or tax. As the trust fund grows, a number of potential industry projects e.g., setting up a fish farm, a small coffee plantation etc. will be assessed and implemented by the locals.

By the third year newly planted trees that have been properly maintained will also be bearing fruits which can be used for food and sold.

These incentives have proved very successful in combating deforestation, encouraging reforestation, putting a stop to hunger and poverty, getting everyone in the community involved and dramatically improved levels of understanding.

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Or find out other ways in which you can help by clicking here 

Reforestation Programme/Education in Agriculture and Forestry Management Skills to Impoverished Communities.

At TI-UK we are involved with programmes which promote education and economic improvement for indigenous people. One such project in the Loreto Region of Peru will have a significant environmenal impact. By combining our social and economic programmes we can make a very real contribution to the global requirement to reduce carbon emissions.

Loreto is Peru’s northernmost and largest region, covering almost one-third of Peru's territory. It is sparsely populated due to its remote location in the Amazon rainforest. The indigenous population is forced to use the forest as means of income. This results in 250,000 hectares of forest being “slashed and burnt” each year, releasing tens of millions of tons of CO_² into the atmosphere. With your help we can put a stop to this and further educate the indigenous people of the region to start planting rather than cutting and burning.

Trees are being cut down for as little as 15p a day to harvest the 'heart' of the local Palm species. These trees can absorb over 600 tons of CO_² for every hectare over their life cycle. For the indigenous population, this is one of their few means of income. So these trees are being cut down, the 'heart' sold, the rest slashed and burnt.   

Hamid Bayazi, one of the trustees of TI-UK, visiting the Loreto region with Yvan Vasquez Valera, President of the Loreto, and the team in charge of the natural resources in the region.  

Benefits of the Carbon Offsetting Programme:
• Up to 250,000 hectares of rainforest saved annually
• Up to 600 tons of CO_² captured per hectare of reforestation
• Replanting of trees in depleted areas
• Significant impact on global warming and climate change
• Preserving the Forest /Alternative, sustainable, low impact agriculture.

Benefits for Local People:
• New sources of sustainable, low-impact industry through managed timber programmes.
• Redeployment of local people into other low-impact, sustainable employment like fish-farming. 
• Replanting areas which have been deforested.

What we have Achieved:

• •  Provided livelihoods to 4 impoverished communities by training them in agro-forestry.
• • 200 additional acres have been reforested with agro-forestry systems in the 4 communities of the Iquitos Nauta Highway for the capture of carbon.
• • 66 families have been selected to work on 200 acres that were reforested in the first year.
• • Implemented a forest economic incentive system where incentives were delivered to the compliant communities.
• What's next:
• • Wind energy harvesting programme for the development of an agricultural production plan aimed at the street children of Chimbote.
• • Energy from Waste projects.
• • Hydroelectric plant in the Andes.
• • Production of bio-fuels through agro-forestry systems in arid and semi-arid areas with non-competitive crops in the community of Catacaos.

What you can do to help:
• £40 will supply a community with equipment to harvest the trees, without damaging them.
• £9.50 per month will pay for reforestation of one hectare of the Amazonian rainforest. This captures at least 10 tons of Carbon per year (equivalent to the carbon emission of an average UK resident).
• £3 per month will sustain the planting of a tree in the rainforest with a 20 year life cycle.

Make a donation to this programme