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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">In June, as part of my south American journey, I’ll be walking the legendary Inca Trail, raising money for Trees for Cities and its work in Peru and beyond. <br /></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">Across four days, the Inca Trail climbs 43km of mountains, cloud forest and sub-tropical jungle, before reaching Machu Picchu, the fabulous lost city of the Incas. It’s going to be tough, but amazing.</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" lang="EN-GB"><span style="font-size: small;">I’m hoping to raise at least £1,500 for Trees for Cities from this trek, so please, as they say, give generously!</span></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’ll be raising money to support an incredible Trees for Cities project in the Peruvian city of Ica – which is in the driest inhabited place on Earth. With annual rainfall of just 3mm, there is massive pressure on what little water resources there are. Sadly, the water cycles of the region are failing because of 98% deforestation of the native huarango tree forest.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The once-common huarangos are being cut down to make way for asparagus farms, and to create charcoal for sale in big cities. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Trees for Cities is tackling this environmental catastrophe through t<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;" lang="EN-GB">ree planting </span>on the edge of farmlands to act as a buffer against desertification.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The project is building local livelihoods associated with native forest, building the economic as well as the environmental case for reforestation. In short, then, the Ica project is bringing people round to the idea that huarango trees are more valuable alive than dead.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">I’ll be heading to Ica straight from Machu Picchu (assuming I can still walk), so I’ll post some nice pics up somewhere.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">I co-founded Trees for Cities 18 years ago and am still a trustee there. </span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.</span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thanks for your support</span>!</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Julian</span></p>
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