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.
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.
I’m hoping to raise at least £1,500 for Trees for Cities from this trek, so please, as they say, give generously!
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. The once-common huarangos are being cut down to make way for asparagus farms, and to create charcoal for sale in big cities.
Trees for Cities is tackling this environmental catastrophe through tree planting on the edge of farmlands to act as a buffer against desertification. 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.
I’ll be heading to Ica straight from Machu Picchu (assuming I can still walk), so I’ll post some nice pics up somewhere.
I co-founded Trees for Cities 18 years ago and am still a trustee there.
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Thanks for your support!
Julian
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