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Projects

Project Puna

Our first project takes shape in the high Andean territories of Áncash, in northern Peru.

Pre-feasibility. Last updated July 2026.

A reforestation and forest conservation project in the high Andean puna, between 3,500 and 4,500 metres, developed with the communities who hold and graze this land.

A herder in a red poncho walking with his dogs across the high Andean grassland, misty ridges behind

The territory

Above the tree line

The name refers to the puna, the cold grassland plateau above the tree line, between roughly 3,500 and 4,500 metres.

Eroded slopes, thin soils and long-standing grazing pressure shape what restoration can realistically achieve here. So does altitude: growth is slow, the planting window is short, and species that thrive lower down simply do not survive.

What the puna does offer is leverage. Restoring native cover on these slopes changes water retention through the dry season, holds soil that currently washes into the valleys, and brings back habitat that has been reduced to fragments.

Current stage

Where the project stands today

Pre-feasibility. Understanding the territory, mapping existing practices, and building the conversation with the people who hold and use this land.

  • First conversations engaged
  • Territory and practices being mapped
  • Community agreements to be defined
  • Project design and VCS pathway
  • Independent validation
  • Registration and first verification

Pre-feasibility is the stage where a project is still allowed to fail. It is the moment to find out whether the land, the tenure situation, the species and the people all line up, before anyone commits to a twenty-year programme.

Areas, partner communities, timelines and results will be published here as they are confirmed. Nothing on this page is presented as a result already achieved.

Ancash Project Puna

Where the work is

The location shown is general and indicative. Parcel boundaries are not displayed: the project perimeter is not defined yet, and drawing one would suggest a level of certainty the work has not reached.

This map will gain precision as the territory is surveyed and agreements are signed.

Activities under study

What the project is likely to involve

These are the options being assessed against the territory. The final mix is set once the diagnosis and the community agreements are complete.

  1. 01

    Native planting

    Queñua and associated high Andean species, produced in local nurseries and planted where erosion and water retention make the strongest case.

  2. 02

    Assisted regeneration

    Protecting and helping the regrowth that already exists around remaining stands, where a seed source is still present.

  3. 03

    Grazing arrangements

    Young trees and livestock cannot share the same ground unmanaged. Rotation and protection are agreed with the herders concerned.

  4. 04

    Local nursery capacity

    Producing seedlings close to the planting sites, with the skills and the jobs that go with it, rather than trucking them in.

Rows of young trees planted on an Andean hillside

Governance

Who decides what

The land in the puna is held and used collectively. Any project on it is a collective decision, and it is made before the planting, not after.

The agreements being prepared cover which land is concerned, what work is committed to, how decisions are taken during the project, how benefits are shared, and what happens if either side wants to stop.

Partner communities will be named on this page once they have agreed in writing to be named.

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