An ecosystem approach to restoration and sustainable management of dry forest in southern Peru

Abstract

The dry forest of the Peruvian south coast has undergone an almost total process of deforestation. Populations here have increased exponentially through immigration supplying labour to urban coastal development, and demonstrably unsustainable agro-industrial expansion for export markets. Society has become dislocated from local traditions of environmental and resource management whilst still retaining a wealth of Andean agricultural expertise. Indigenous communities still hold on to vestiges of traditional knowledge. Relicts of natural vegetation, traditional agriculture and agrobiodiversity continue to sustain ecosystem services. Moreover, offer livelihood options and resources for restoration. These aspects reflect a long cultural trajectory, including famous extinct cultures such as Nasca, that evolved within an ever-changing riparian and agricultural landscape influenced by external forces and which incorporated important processes of plant domestication and adaptation to climatic oscillation.Here, we present an ecosystem approach to vegetation restoration and sustainable resource management in Ica, Peru, based on wide interdisciplinary biodiversity inventory and study, where school, community and agro-industry engagement is seen as a prerequisite for success. The approach demonstrated significant plant establishment in this hyperarid region using appropriate low-technology techniques of planting and irrigation with minimum watering. Restoration of a highly degraded environment built upon vegetation relicts followed a strategy of cultural capacity building and environmental engagement, including the development of sustainable forest products, festivals, schools programmes, didactic publications for local use, and collaboration with local communities, landowners, agribusiness and governmental authorities. Plant conservation must re-engage people with their natural heritage by dissemination of information for vegetation restoration and management integrated to dynamics of ecosystem function within its wide local cultural and historical context.

Detecting Landscape Disturbance at the Nasca Lines Using SAR Data Collected from Airborne and Satellite Platforms

“…It can also be applied, using the methods described here, to monitor landscape disturbance that threatens ecosystems and crucial habitats, habitat corridors, aquifers, native vegetation, and other resources, as well as ecosystem services such as water filtration, opportunities for recreation, and biodiversity [27,28,[40][41][42][43][44].…”

“…These systems rose and fell in concert with the ENSO cycle. Periods of drought or of torrential rains were catalysts for collapse, but the essentially robust environments of the stream and river courses provided the basis for renewal [27,[40][41][42][43][44].…”

“…In many years, this region receives no measurable precipitation [45], and many of the streams and rivers flow only seasonally [44]. Flows can vary greatly from year to year, and especially from decade to decade, due to ENSO.…”

Community Use and Knowledge of Algarrobo (Prosopis pallida) and Implications for Peruvian Dry Forest Conservation

“…Referred to as algarroba, mesquite, carob, kiawe, or huarango in other regions, algarrobo is a leguminous tree native to western South America distinctly recognizable by its strikingly contorted trunks, tiny leaflets, yellow fruit pods, spreading growth form and dense reddish-brown heartwood (Gallaher and Merlin, 2010;Pasiecznik, 2001;Whaley et al, 2010). Pasiecznik describes Prosopis pallida as one of the two "most economically and ecologically important tree species in arid and semi-arid zones of the world" (2001, p. vii).…”

“…Blooming in Peru during July and August, algarrobo produce yellow pods 13-25 cm long in December through February (Pasiecznik, 2001). Often demonstrating highly contorted and even spiraled trunks, these extremely saline-tolerant trees are believed to have a lifespan of up to 1 000 years (Pasiecznik, 2001;Whaley et al, 2010). Algarrobo's remarkable vertical taproots up to 53 m long enable it to survive in La Libertad region, which averages around 5 mm of rain in non-El Niño years (Instituto Geofísico del Perú; Gallaher and Merlin, 2010;Whaley et al, 2010).…”