An ecosystem approach to restoration and … ecosystem...An ecosystem approach to restoration and sustainable management of dry forest in southern Peru Oliver Q. Whaley1, David G

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

Oliver Q. Whaley1, David G. Beresford-Jones2, William Milliken1, Alfonso Orellana3, Anna Smyk4 &Joaquín Leguía5

Summary. 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 develop-ment, and demonstrably unsustainable agro-industrial expansion for export markets. Society has become disloca-ted from local traditions of environmental and resource management whilst still retaining a wealth of Andeanagricultural expertise. Indigenous communities still hold on to vestiges of traditional knowledge. Relicts of naturalvegetation, traditional agriculture and agrobiodiversity continue to sustain ecosystem services. Moreover, offerlivelihood options and resources for restoration. These aspects reflect a long cultural trajectory, including famousextinct cultures such as Nasca, that evolved within an ever-changing riparian and agricultural landscape influencedby external forces and which incorporated important processes of plant domestication and adaptation to climaticoscillation.

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-industryengagement is seen as a prerequisite for success. The approach demonstrated significant plant establishment inthis hyperarid region using appropriate low-technology techniques of planting and irrigation with minimum wat-ering. Restoration of a highly degraded environment built upon vegetation relicts followed a strategy of culturalcapacity building and environmental engagement, including the development of sustainable forest products, fes-tivals, schools programmes, didactic publications for local use, and collaboration with local communities, lando-wners, agribusiness and governmental authorities. Plant conservation must re-engage people with their naturalheritage by dissemination of information for vegetation restoration and management integrated to dynamics ofecosystem function within its wide local cultural and historical context.

Key Words. agriculture, archaeology, desert, huarango, Ica, local communities, Nasca culture, Prosopis.

IntroductionAs vegetation is increasingly reduced to small relicts,the diversity of cultivated plants is eroded, and aquarter of the world plants are threatened withextinction (Brummitt et al. 2009), the forthcomingdecade will be a critical time for people and plants.Within the next five years most of the world’s forestswill have been subject to harvesting, and, apart frominaccessible or protected sites, will have becomesecondary, fragmented, degraded or simplified (Lamb& Gilmour 2003). These problems are particularlyacute in the dry forests of arid areas. One fifth of theworld’s poorest inhabitants live in arid lands (see for

instance Barker & Gilbertson 2000) and almost onebillion hectares of these have suffered human-induceddegradation (Pessarakli & Szabolcs 1999). At the sametime, wider cultural understanding of the vital impor-tance of forests in maintaining hydrological cycles andecosystem services, through the functional associationof biodiversity, is being undermined by current trendstowards seeing forest as mere ‘carbon stores’ (Sheil &Murdiyarso 2009). Furthermore, traditional adaptiveland management and agro-biodiversity itself areincreasingly recognised as providing essential ecosys-tem and conservation services (see Jackson et al. 2007;Argumedo 2008). Consequently, it is extremely urgent

Accepted for publication November 2010.1 The Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond, Surrey, TW9 3AE, UK.2 McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK.3 Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga de Ica, Perú (UNICA), Ica, Peru.4 Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), London, UK.5 Asociación para la Niñez y su Ambiente, Perú (ANIA), Lima, Peru.

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© The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, 2011

that plant conservation and restoration projects, fromlocal community to government level, build, throughresearch collaboration, a culturally and agriculturallyinformed consensus towards conserving naturalresources to provide for people and ecosystem.

An ecosystem approachThe International Convention on Biological Diversityoffers a useful framework for “an integrated strategythat promotes conservation and sustainable use in anequitable way” (CBD COP2 1995), which we use here todefine ‘an Ecosystem Approach’, for our project inIca, in three crucial respects.1 Firstly, it emphasises theimportance of breaking down, or at least workingoutside, the class and institutional barriers that are stillso problematic in Peru. Secondly, the CBD alsorecognises a “requirement for adaptive management”,and that there is “no single way to implement anecosystem approach” (CBD COP2 1995). This calls forthose shifts of emphasis that become necessary as anyproject, including our Ica example, properly integra-tes its ecological or technical research outcomes intoits development and execution. Finally, and of partic-ular relevance in Ica, the CBD “recognizes thathumans, with their cultural diversity, are an integralcomponent of ecosystems” (CBD COP2 1995). Thisserves to highlight the importance of human cultureto conservation and restoration, for we are, asHodgson (2001) puts it plainly, “part of the naturalecosystem, whether we like it or not”. The etymologyof the word ‘culture’ is, of course, derived from the actor practice of cultivating the soil. Indeed, it only cameinto use outside an agricultural context during theearly sixteenth century as education was conceptual-ised as cultivating the mind. By the 1950s C. P. Snowwas observing the gap between “the two cultures —the humanities and science” (Higgs 2005). Plantconservation — among other disciplines, includingarchaeology — has struggled to bridge this gap. AnEcosystem Approach, as we define it here, attempts todo precisely this by setting restoration in the contextof human cultures and agriculture.

It may also be useful to define ‘restoration’ as wemean it in the context of our Ica Project, for whileclearly it “is the process of assisting the recovery of anecosystem that has been degraded, damaged, ordestroyed”, as the Society for Ecological Restoration

(SER 2004) puts it, in the absence of cultural uptakeof its concept and practices, such a process may countfor little in the long-run. So, in highly degraded andpopulated environments such as Ica, in which ecolog-ical and habitat restoration is essential to conservation,the success of restoration depends on its ‘culturaluptake’. Accordingly we include cultural uptake in ourdefinition here which, as we will explain, we seek toachieve through the planting of native species andassisted regeneration of vegetation (and biodiversity)undertaken by as wide a range of people as possible soas to effect improvement of ecosystem function. Or,simply put, replanting of the right species in the rightplaces as part of the normal activity of large sectors ofsociety, both urban and rural.

Climate and FloraThe south coast of Peru is part of the Pacific coastalbelt, which is one of the world’s oldest and driest areasknown as the Peru Chile Desert. Its climate is hyper-arid, with an average annual precipitation of only0.3 mm per year (ONERN 1971; SENAMHI 2007).These conditions are thought to have prevailed sincethe late Eocene, with the onset of hyperaridity by themiddle to late Miocene, some 15 million years ago(Alpers & Brimhall 1988; Böhlke et al. 1997; McKay etal. 2003). Seasonal rivers capture moisture spillingover the high Andean cordillera from the Amazonbasin (Prohaska 1973), feeding the Pacific coastalrivers and aquifers from around December to April.Equally important, as a source of moisture for plants,is coastal fog (‘garúa’) occurring from June toDecember. These water sources support a surprisinglyrich, highly adapted flora and fauna, includinghabitats with high endemism in quebradas (inter-Andean valleys) and lomas (fog meadow) (seeFig. 1). In individual lomas communities, plantendemism at species level often exceeds 40% (Dillonet al. 2003).

The project studies we present here increased thetotal Ica coastal flora (below 1500 m) from around 180(Velázquez Zea 1995; León et al. 1997; Roque & Cano1999) to over 480 species (see Table 1). We expect thattotal to rise to over 530 species because of the highlyephemeral nature of isolated and disparate plantcommunities (Whaley et al. 2010b). Of this totalnumber, around 29% appear to be endemic to Peruand Southern coastal Ecuador, and about 10%endemic to Ica and Southern Peru, with a handful ofspecies also occurring in Northern Chile. Phytogeo-graphic linkages between our collections and plantsfound in the dry valleys of Bolivia and northwestArgentina, raise questions about ecosystem connectiv-ity along the South American arid diagonal prior tothe Andean orogeny. Indeed, generic affinities, and afew species disjunctions, can be found to the north

1 The Convention to Combat Desertification has been appliedon the North coast of Peru (CCD/INRENA 2002), and while itdoes not specifically use the term ‘ecosystem approach’, itnonetheless embraces many of its principles to work indrylands (CBD 1995), including participation by local com-munities and the importance of alternative livelihoods. TheCCD, however, is yet to be applied in Ica, or anywhere else onthe South Coast.

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Fig. 1. Examples of endemic plants on south coast Peru: A Ambrosia dentata; B Cleistocactus acanthurus; C Krameria lappacea*; DHaageocereus pseudomelanostele; E Tecoma fulva subsp guarume; F Alstroemeria aff. violacea; G Evolvulus lanatus; H Cistanthepaniculata. *also known from arid N. Argentina, Bolivia and Chile.

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across arid lands as far as the southwest United States(Beresford-Jones 2011), including the northern Peru-vian/southern Ecuadorian dry forest and the Galapa-gos Islands. Human-assisted movement of key legumegenera such as Prosopis spp. is of course a factor, as arelong-range dispersal agents that include migratingbirds and the Guanaco (Lama guanicoe).

El Niño Regeneration PulsePeriodically, the climatic oscillations of El Niño-South-ern Oscillation (ENSO), as well as the less markedSouthern Decadal Oscillation, can see the Andeancatchments receiving much greater quantities of rain-fall than normal, which flood the Pacific coastal rivervalleys recharging drought-depleted aquifers (that canrise to the surface in marshy areas known locally asPuquios (see Fig. 2H)). These flood events are a vitalnatural regenerative pulse for riparian dry forest, andalso for vegetation ‘corridors’ in more marginal areassuch as ‘huaycos’-wadis or ephemeral streams (see forinstance Holmgren et al. 2006).

Along the arid Pacific coast various species ofProsopis (P. chilensis Stuntz, P. juliflora (Sw.) DC., P.pallida (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.) Kunth, P. limensisBenth.), seem to have adapted to using these pulses ofEl Niño flooding as triggers to pass seed germinationthresholds and become established (Squeo et al.2007). On the south coast the sporadic nature offlooding, with intervals of up to 15 years in an area ofnear zero rainfall, makes its vegetation extremelyvulnerable to the impact of deforestation. Dry foresthere is dominated by P. limensis, (including P. pallida(see Mom et al. 2002)) a species known locally as thehuarango. This legume species can live for over amillennium and has one of the deepest root systems ofany tree in any environment (Stone & Kalisz 1991;Díaz Celis 1995). It is the ecological keystone speciesof a vegetation community that underpins the riverfloodplain, allowing the dynamics of regeneration andflooding in a non-catastrophic way. Since vegetation inthis environment also acts to increase soil moisturethrough capture and precipitation of fog, its removal

Table 1. Summary of South Coast Flora from project collections.

Family Sub-Family Number of species Percentage of total

collection*

Gramineae 80 17%

Leguminosae Papilionoideae 27 6%

Caesalpinioideae 13 50 3% 11%

Mimosoideae 10 2%

Compositae 52 11%

Solanaceae 32 7%

Malvaceae 24 5%

Cactaceae 14 3%

Cyperaceae 13 3%

Chenopodiaceae 10 2%

Scrophulariaceae 10 2%

Euphorbiaceae 10 2%

Convolvulaceae 9 2%

Cruciferae 9 2%

52 other families 167 33%

Total 480 100%

Total endemics to Peru, S Ecuador, N Chile 140 29%

Total endemics to Southern Peru 50 10%

* Rounded up to nearest percent.



Fig. 2. Vegetation types in Ica: A Prosopis dry forest (2001); B Riparian oasis dry forest (2005); C Prosopis dune forest (windy zone)(2002); D Cactus scrub forest (2008); E Acequia and huerta vegetation (2002); F Lomas (2001); G Tamarix aphylla invasion (2009);H Marshy spring or ‘Puquio’ (2005).



creates a positive feedback process of desertificationwhich compounds the effect of extended time-lapsesbetween regeneration events. Together with otherdesertification processes such as increased soil salinityand seed-bank loss, the ecosystem of the south coast isone of the most susceptible on earth to human andclimatic impact.

Historical Ecology on the South CoastThe riparian oases and associated lomas, quebradasand marine habitats of the south coast have supporteda trajectory of human settlement and adaptationwhich spans the Holocene. Thus, the ancient humaninteraction with the environment is universally evidentin the historical ecology of the region.

Most obviously, these include the cultivation, tracedthrough the archaeological record, of a rich suite ofimportant domesticated plants: firstly of cotton (Gos-sypium barbadense L.) and gourd (Lagenaria siceraria(Molina) Standl.); followed by the food crop beans(Phaseolus lunatus L. and Phaseolus vulgaris L.), pumpkin(Curcubita spp.), peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.), achira(Canna edulis Ker Gawl.), the fruit trees pacay (Ingafeuillei DC.) and guava (Psidium guajava L.), chilli(Capsicum spp.) and finally, maize (Zea mays L.).Gathered, wild resources, including those from the PacificOcean and lomas, were also important. Moreover,gathered wild plant resources formed a surprisingly highproportion of human diet— perhaps as much as 50%—long after the adoption of agriculture (Beresford-Jones etal. 2009b, 2011; Beresford-Jones 2011). Most significantly,these included the fruit of the huarango, the remains ofwhich are frequently found in human coprolites. Indeed,evidence suggests that particular morphological featuresof the huarango — its thornlessness, pod size andproduction, as well as tree growth characteristics —suggest a long process of selection by humans as anessential resource. Within the relative isolation of theriparian relicts of the south coast, these characters of P.limensis may have preserved it from subsequent dispersal,hybridisation and backcrossing that has taken placeelsewhere.

Human cultural impact upon riparian dry forestcan also be traced back to pre-Columbian times.During the first five hundred years of the CurrentEra, the Nasca culture flourished on the south coast,building the vast ceremonial site of Cahuachi on theRío Nazca (Silverman 1993; Silverman & Proulx 2002;Orefici & Drusini 2003). Nazca is now famous for thegiant geoglyphs (the ‘Nazca Lines’2) that were etchedon the high desert pampas between river valleys — aUNESCO World Heritage Site and visited by thousands

of tourists every year. Yet, Nazca’s fame by virtue of thisempty, ritual space is somewhat ironic, since the peoplewho made the Lines actually lived, farmed and foragedwithin the riparian dry forests, of which there are fewremaining traces on the south coast today (see Fig. 3).Indeed, the naturalistic depictions of the south coast’sfauna and flora in the extraordinary Early Nasca Periodartistic canon would seem to proclaim a profoundecological ‘riparian consciousness’.

Around AD 550 Nasca culture collapsed andfractured into internecine warfare, ultimately to vanishfrom the archaeological record. Interpretations of thiscollapse have long invoked ancient El Niño climateperturbations, for which there is evidence in coresfrom the Quelccaya ice cap in the high Andes(Thompson et al. 1985; Silverman 2002). But recentinvestigations in the lower Ica Valley suggest that theimpact of these was much greater than could beexplained by such climatic events alone. A combinationof geomorphological and archaeobotanical evidence,including pollen, suggests that here the catastrophiceffects of El Niño floods, including river downcutting,were only precipitated by a gradual clearing of dry forestto make way for agriculture (see Beresford-Jones et al.2009a, b; Beresford-Jones 2011). Late Nasca agriculturalsystems would not have been so easily destroyed if theforests that protected the fragile desert ecology of theirriverine oases had not already been cleared.

Understanding historical ecology and the inad-vertent effects of human impact — in conjunctionwith natural cycles and trends — on ecosystems inthe past offers important lessons for our manage-ment and restoration of fragile arid areas in thepresent (Lambin et al. 2003). Ecological collapsefollowing a cultural shift imposing unsustainabledemands on the environment and keystone speciesis a pattern often found where ecologists and archae-ologists collaborate. Indeed, the loss of thriving forestand its conversion to lifeless salt-afflicted soils evidenton Peru's south coast (see Figs 4 and 5) is a familiarand ancient story in many arid areas of the world (seefor instance Redman 1999; Diamond 2005).

Today, migration from Andean rural to coastalurban areas has put huge pressure on naturalresources. Lima grew from 600,000 in 1940 to fourmillion in 1970. 9.9 percent of Lima's 1956 popula-tion lived in ‘pueblos jovenes’ (squatter suburbs). By1976 this figure had risen to 76 percent (Escobar &Beall 1982). Today Lima is a vast urban sprawl ofperhaps 10 million people. The growth of the City ofIca mirrors that of Peru’s capital. Here, recent rapidurbanisation is greatly exacerbating a centuries-oldproblem of socioeconomic stratification based uponthe division of water resources (see Oré 2005) andaround 80% of the population now depend on jobsin agro-industry. Consequently, the small groups ofremaining indigenous smallholders often find irri-

2 We follow, herein, a convention of using ‘Nasca’ to connote theEarly Intermediate Period archaeological culture, and ‘Nazca’to mean the place name today.



gation too costly and retain unproductive landsonly in hope of natural flooding or purchase byagroindustry. For many, incomes can only bederived from informal, dangerous and environmen-tally damaging mining as metals prices rise, ormarginal activities such as charcoal burning or thelooting of archaeological sites for Pre-Columbian‘art’ markets.

The South coast Peru environmentToday, the Ica region in southern Peru is home toaround 712,000 people (Instituto Nacional de Estadís-tica e Informática 2010). Poverty here is widespread.From the quebradas of the Andean foothills to thecoastal plain and the Pacific seaboard, the Ica regionlikely ranks as one of the most degraded environmentson earth, having suffered deforestation of perhaps99% of its natural dry forest. Vegetation here, espe-cially in lomas habitats in which seasonal fog captureprovides significant annual water supply, is particularlyvulnerable as its removal begins a positive feedbackcycle of desiccation. Studies in lomas using fine nets totrap fog have captured on average ten litres of waterper day per square metre of net during the fog season(Semenzato 1995). The huarango itself is adapted tofog interception with its clusters of brachyblasts with

tiny leaflets and fine hairs. We measured the quantityof atmospheric moisture captured by a small tree(three metres in height with a crown width of fourmetres) at up to nine litres per night. Throughexcavation under huarango canopies in sand dunes(Fig. 2C) in fog areas, we found that the buriedbranches develop a fine matrix of superficial adventi-tious roots (see Fig. 6), presumably to capture thissurface moisture. Areas of heavy nightly fog areindicated by the presence of epiphytic Tillandsiaspecies (including T. purpurea Ruiz. & Pav.) growingin huarango, and at higher elevation in Cacti.

OvergrazingThe history of overgrazing in the region dates back tothe introduction of Old World animals. One of the firstSpanish chroniclers, Bernabé Cobo, noted in 1653 howgreat numbers of livestock could be sustained uponProsopis fruits, which “were as nutritious as any grain”(Cobo 1956). In Ica itself, this led to the developmentof a flourishing tanning and soap industry during theColonial Period, which lasted until the end of the 18th

Century and exported its products as far as Panama.The effects of extended overgrazing over centuries

are today evident throughout the Andean hinterlandand quebrada slopes of the south coast in the form of

Fig. 3. The Huarango geoglyph of the Nazca lines (DRAWN BY O. Q. WHALEY) and the ancient forest of Usaca.



gulley erosion and scores of abandoned corrals.Consequent devegetation was compounded bydroughts in these highland hinterlands — the Sierraof Ica (Ayacucho and Huancavelica) — during the1950s. These forced some Andean pastoralists tomigrate to the coast, driving their starving livestock,which in the driest months were fed columnar cactisuch as Browningia candelaris (Meyen) Britton & Roseand Armatocereus procerus Rauh & Backeb., after firstburning off the spines. On reaching the coast livestockwere corralled in dry forest relicts and fed onhuarango pods. Such was its quality as fodder thatmany of these migrant pastoralists then settled on thecoast. Following a semi-nomadic lifestyle, and withmixed herds of sheep and goat numbering severalhundreds of animals, they exploited riparian and lomasvegetation alike for grazing (Don Victor Castro et al.pers. comm.). Even today between December andApril, Andean pastoralists bring down cattle to grazethe vestiges of Andean foothill lomas (above 600 m).Yet as herd numbers have declined sharply due to lackof huarango pod fodder in the riparian valley bottoms,some areas of coastal lomas appear to be experiencing

limited regeneration, attracting the rare reappearan-ces of the natural disperser and grazer of theseenvironments — the highly threatened Peruviansubspecies of Guanaco (Lama guanicoe cacsilensis).3

DesertificationToday, exploitation of dry forest in Ica has reached acritical state whereby almost all former woodlands havebeen deforested, the main drivers of which are: (i)continued deforestation of the few remaining relicts bothfor charcoal to supply chicken grills in cities and toprovide fuel wood for a resurgent Pisco distilling industry;(ii) expansion of agro-industry pumping ground water(Oré 2005) and removing relict vegetation; (iii) aban-donment of irrigation canals and traditional farming(urbanisation in Ica); (iv) invasion by exotic Tamarixaphylla (L.) H. Karst. (see Fig. 2G) and (v) insect plagues(Melipotis aff. indomita (Walker) and Enallodiplosis discordis

3 Some authors (Ponce del Prado & Otte 1984) have postulatedthe possible existence of an undescribed coastal subspecies ofguanaco.

Fig. 4. A huarango dry-forest attacked by insect plagues in Río Poroma (2008), Usaca, Nazca (2008); B – C Illegal charcoaloperations remove the last huarangos in Mancha Verde, Nazca (2007); D Charcoal ovens in the Río Nazca Valley margin (2008).



Gagné) afflicting the huarango throughout its Icadistribution since c. 2001 (see Fig. 4A).

Agriculture and Soil FertilitySoil fertility in this region is largely confined tovegetated valley bottoms and flood-plains, whereannually replenished alluvial silts — known locally as‘yapana’ (in Quechua, literally meaning top-up) —meld together with nitrogen-fixing trees and annualpioneering legumes to produce exceptionally produc-tive soils and sediments. Soil fertility has traditionallybeen managed here through systems of agroforestry inconjunction with small, so-called, ‘kitchen garden’ plotsknown locally as ‘huertas’ (see Figs 2E and 7). Pockets ofhuerta farming can still be seen in Ica at San Juan deBautista, Subtanjalla and along sections of the Achiranaand Mochica irrigation canals in Cachiche, Huamangilla,Los Aquijes, Pueblo Nuevo and Santiago (Whaley et al.2010b). Also in the quebradas, small household huertascan be found with distinct irrigation systems constitutingveritable cradles of agrobiodiversity. Cieza de León(1996) described similar huertas on the coast of Peruin 1553, and the system doubtless dates back far into pre-Colombian times (Beresford-Jones 2011).

Huertas are watered using various techniques rangingacross what Nabhan (1979) calls the “continuum of

hydrostatic manipulations”, from floodwater farming tocanal irrigation — all forms of ‘spate agriculture’. Asseasonal water arrives — ‘agua nueva’ or ‘agua deavenidas’ — it is diverted into canals (‘acequias’), alongsmall channels (‘surcos’), into convoluted swales (or‘caracoles’) and sunken fields (‘holladas’). Theseannual inundations bring with them huge quantities offine alluvial silts and clay (‘yapana’) that renew soilfertility and moisture which, being so fine, dry out slowlyallowing a succession of crops to be cultivated andharvested upon them. Small huerta plots are embankedabout their edges to retain these seasonal floodwaters(see Fig. 7). Fruit trees such as ciruela (Spondias purpureaL.), guayaba (Psidium guajava), pacay (Inga feuillei),huarango and espino (Acacia macracantha Humb. &Bonpl. ex Willd.) — the last three also being nitrogen-fixing soil improvers — are grown along these embank-ments creating windbreaks, essential in an environmentwith a strong wind regime. They are also sources of fuelwood, (especially the espino) through judicious coppic-ing, and of fruit or pods for both human and livestockconsumption. The copious leaf litter of the huarango(known as ‘poña’) and pacay, often growing on huertaborders, is dug into fields as a form of fertiliser.

In some higher quebrada huertas and terracesSchinus molle L. is also planted along borders for theprovision offirewood, beverages,medicine (seeGoldstein

Fig. 5. Relict Nasca culture canal, crossing now deserted landscape of lower Ica valley (2002).



& Coleman 2004) and soil fertility, whilst allowingsufficient light to pass through to adjacent crops.

Since huertas were originally, and often still are,maintained without the use of commercial pesticidesor herbicides, their open, disturbed areas includenumbers of endemic herbs, grasses and other so-called

‘agrestal’ plants, growing together with sown cultivars.Many of these provide valuable wild plant resources forfood and other purposes whilst providing habitat forbiocontrol insects. Our collections from one such huertainclude various species of the Amaranthaceae, Cheno-podiaceae, Cyperaceae, Gramineae, Leguminosae and

Fig. 7. Traditional huerta of Ica providing multiple ecosystem services (DRAWN BY O. Q. WHALEY).

Fig. 6. Superficial adventitious root development from huarango branches to capture atmospheric moisture deposited on the desertsurface (2008).



Solanaceae families. Some of these plants, including the‘tomatíllo’ (Solanum pimpinellifolium L.), are gatheredand eaten by rural communities today. Many areevident in the archaeobotanical record of ancienthuman diet in the lower Ica Valley. Indeed, in the pastany distinction between ‘wild’ and ‘cultivated’ was likelyfar more blurred than it is today (see Beresford-Jones etal. 2011; Beresford-Jones 2011). Above all, huertafarming is a small-scale and sustainable form ofagriculture which supports biodiversity (see Pecho etal. 2010) whilst providing food, forage and fuel. Today,actively managed huertas are increasingly rare in Ica,yet nonetheless offer crucial ecosystem references andplant resources for enriched restoration efforts.

Similar changes in land-use and their consequencesreach back into pre-Colombian times in this region.Today, agriculture and population are concentrated inthe middle Ica Valley around the city of Ica, founded bythe Spanish in 1563. But, as Massey (1991) observes, themiddle Ica Valley was only intensively settled rather latein the long trajectory of south coast prehistory —“during the Late Intermediate with the expansion ofthe [A]chirana irrigation canal from the upper valley tothe zone of Tacaraca-Ica Viejo, the Ica-Inca capital inthe upper middle valley”. Prior to this, during the EarlyHorizon and subsequent Nasca periods, the archaeo-logical record shows human settlement was concen-trated downstream, in the lower Ica Valley, wherearchaeological remains there attest to substantial pre-historic populations. Strong et al. (1943), for instance,noted that “it is already apparent that in earlier timesthis part of the Ica valley was thickly populated” (seealso Cook 1999). Yet today these vast basins are largelybereft of agriculture and significant population.

The gradual, human-induced changes recorded inthe archaeological record in the lower Ica Valleyculminated with the impact of the Wari MiddleHorizon, an expansionist empire from the highAndes, which conquered the south coast in aroundAD 600 (Beresford-Jones et al. 2009a, b; Beresford-Jones 2011). Tombs of this period contain such of vastquantities of raw cotton as to suggest that, under Wari,much of the area was turned over to growing this crop.Cotton was important for Wari textiles but could not begrown in the Ayacucho heartland of the empire. In duecourse, agriculture of maize and other domesticatedfood plants seems to dwindle in the archaeobotanicalrecord for the lower Ica Valley. The desiccated remainsof broad-leafed fruit trees such as pacay (Inga feuillei)and guava (Psidium guajava), and the ‘Tintillo’4 shrub

(Indigofera truxillensis Kunth), which all thrive in for-ested humid environments, are common in the rubbishmiddens of early archaeological periods here. Yet theseplants cannot easily be grown today in the degradedenvironment of the lower Ica Valley. In short, thearchaeological record of the lower Ica Valley presents aprima facie case for dramatically changed ecological andlandscape conditions (see Fig. 5) — in some waysanalogous to that starting to take place today in themiddle valley.

With the advent of groundwater pumping at the end ofthe 19th Century and, in due course, the development ofartificial fertilisers, changes began to accelerate in themiddle Ica Valley (Oré 2005). The effects have beenradical for agriculture, society and ecosystem in Ica.Industrial-scale production of cotton and viticulture ledto the development of the middle Ica Valley (seeBlanchard 1996). Today, industrial agriculture suppliesexport markets with exotic food crops such as asparagus,table grapes, citrus and artichoke.

In contrast to natural, floodwater irrigation ofhuerta farming, agroindustry relies on the pumpingof low-nutrient ground water from deep aquifers,which is then pumped through pressurised drip feedsystems to supply extensive areas of crops. It relies alsoon intensive, cheap manual labour. Industrialisedagriculture in itself has brought many benefits to Ica,providing short and long-term employment for manylocal and migrant people (a single fundo may employup to 8,000 people for a single harvest). But as agro-industrialists themselves recognise, it is patently unsus-tainable. Poor regulation of ground water pumping isleading to steadily falling water tables in many parts ofIca (INRENA 2007). This has obvious consequenceseven for deep-rooted plants. Yet it would be simplisticto blame pumping alone: Andean and Amazondeforestation may also be causing an observed dimin-ishing of flow in the Río Ica itself (SENAMI inBeresford-Jones 2011). Meanwhile river canalisationand urban expansion are causing the abandonment oftraditional irrigation systems, with the consequencethat water is discharged rapidly through the river tothe sea, by-passing and failing to recharge aquifers inhigher parts of the Río Ica drainage.

The agro-industrial boom in Ica has attracted a largenew workforce of immigrants mainly from the Ayacuchosierra. Consequently, much traditional farming from thesierra down through Ica’s river systems, has beenabandoned. Floodwater irrigation systems have beenneglected, or lined with cement (thereby preventingwater infiltration into groundwater aquifers), withdisastrous consequences when El Niño floods do arrive.During the 1997/98 El Niño event the city of Ica wasflooded to a depth of two metres. Common local plantnames have fallen into disuse and the suite of pre-Columbian domesticates grown in traditional huertas isbeing lost. The result is a society dislocated from its local

4 The local name ‘Tintillo’ attests to its use to produce an intenseblue dye, although through a particularly obscure and unpredict-able process, which local people interviewed no longer recall oruse. Indigofera truxillensis found in Ica is endemic to Ecuador andPeru and often confused with the more widespread and better-known dye plant I. suffruticosa (Whaley et al. 2010b).



traditions of environmental and resource management.Indeed, the south coast could be seen today as witness-ing the dawn of a new cultural ‘Horizon’.

The Ica ProjectThe ‘Habitat Restoration and Sustainable Use ofSouthern Peruvian Dry Forest Project’, or ProyectoHuarango (hereafter the ‘Project’) was co-ordinatedby the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and supported byDEFRA’s Darwin Initiative, supplemented by othersupport as detailed below. Its objectives were threefoldwith the third being the particular focus of this paper:

(i)Knowledge recovery. The scientific knowledge base ofthese threatened south coast dry forests and theirassociated ecosystems have, until now, been limited.Meanwhile, local knowledge is being rapidly lost. TheProject’s first objective, therefore, was a comprehensivebaseline survey and herbarium plant collection of southcoast vegetation communities, incorporating localknowledge of names, uses andmanagement.Our studiesalso included inventories and studies of birds, reptilesand other fauna. Together these formed the basis for theproject’s other two objectives.

(ii)Biodiversity recovery. At the start of the Project theregion had no protected areas for native terrestrial planthabitats. A lengthy process secured two Governmentconservation concessions (in Nazca and Ica), providingpropagules for restoration. Habitat restoration trial sitesand tree nurseries were established in local communitiesand agro-industries, complemented by engagement withlocal government policy-making.

(iii)Connecting plants and people. For the Project toachieve its core objective and leave a sustainable legacy,it confronted the clear cultural challenges that face anyattempt to carry out plant conservation and habitatrestoration in Ica. Indeed, as described above, thisdefines the ecosystem approach to restoration adoptedhere. To do so, the Project engaged with local rural andurban communities, (including regional government,landowners and agri-business) through: free festivals,local schools programmes, awareness-raising events(such as workshops and training for teachers and naturalresource policing officials), as well as a large programmeof educational native tree planting incorporating usefulspecies. These activities were supported with posters andhand-outs and comprehensive didactic publicationsaimed at a local audience. Underpinning this engage-ment was the demonstration of sustainable livelihoodoptions through the development of products derivedfrom the huarango (Prosopis) pods.5 Together, these

activities aimed to inform local communities and toengender a cultural awareness of the importance ofplant conservation and restoration to people’s qualityof life; helping to renew local pride by placing thesouth coast’s rich natural and agricultural heritagewithin the context of its long cultural heritage —already a source of valuable income from tourism.

Knowledge Recovery — scientific studyand recording ethnobotanyBefore this project the ecology of dry forest andassociated plant communities of the south coast ofPeru were poorly studied. The few published accountsof plant associations and distributions here are over-views (Velázquez Zea 1995; León et al. 1997; Roque &Cano 1999 and ethnobotany see Sejuro 1990) thoughmore detailed studies of flora do exist for the north coast(see Sagastegui 1973; Linares-Palomino et al. 2005) andfor Peruvian lomas ecosystems (see Ferreyra 1961;Rundel et al. 1991; Dillon et al. 2003).

In the past the mosaic of riparian dry forest wereimportant corridors of life across the desert, linking thediverse flora and fauna of the Andean foothills with thelomas formations along the Peruvian south coast (seeMap 1, Fig. 2F & Whaley et al. 2010b). But they are alsothe location where humans chose to settle and cultivatein the millennia following the development of agricul-ture. Consequently, their original riparian ecology ishighly fragmented. On the south coast those fragmentsthat prevail do so only because they are remote andprovide some marginal livelihood such as raising live-stock and charcoal extraction. None, of course, are inany sense ecologically ‘pristine’, nor have they been formillennia. Nonetheless their significance as the placeswhere people actually live and wherein the south coast’sfamous archaeological cultures, such as Nasca, flour-ished, makes the paucity of ecological information onthe south coast riparian oases all the more unfortunate.

Meanwhile, as we have seen, most of the populationof Ica today consists of first- or second-generationmigrants from the distant sierra, and agriculture isdominated by European crops. School textbooks oftenshow the plants of Spain, typifying a problem in manyAndean countries (and elsewhere) where school text-books rarely include information about local plants.Consequently, knowledge of local plants and ecology isrestricted to a handful of, mostly elderly, Iqueños.

This is now being remedied by studies carried out bythis Project. Botanical surveys have been made of mostvegetation associations in the Ica region and herbariumcollections identified by botanists of the RBG Kew andthe Universidad Nacional San Luis Gonzaga de Ica,Peru, totalling some 480 different plant species in 64families (see Table 1). Herbarium vouchers specimenswere deposited in a new Project herbarium facility atUNICA. Wherever possible, we incorporated local

5 Algarrobo tree (Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC. and P. pallida) podsare processed in Northern Peru, Piura region supportingthriving cottage industries visited by the project during capacitybuilding (www.kew.org/icaperu/).



http://www.kew.org/icaperu/

knowledge of colloquial names, plant ecology, habitand uses into the project's publications.

Nearly one third of this recorded flora of Ica isrepresented by plants from the grass (Gramineae) andlegume (Leguminosae) families, and over half bythese and four others: Compositae, Solanaceae, Mal-vaceae and Cyperaceae (see Table 1). The project hasalso co-ordinated comprehensive surveys of the birds,animals and insects of the south coast riparianecosystem (see Whaley et al. 2010b). This informationnow allows for a much better understanding of the

various ecosystems wherein human settlement andagriculture developed on the south coast of Peru. Thepresence of many pan-tropical weeds and Andeandisjuncts, with a high proportion — for a desertarea — of the region’s flora being grasses (thatinclude endemic species) suggest an extended periodof impact on the region’s ecology by humans andtheir livestock.

For the purposes of restoration and conservationwe define ten distinct vegetation associations in the IcaRegion between sea level and 1800 m (see Table 2). In

Map 1. The south coast of Peru (Landsat 7 ETM +2000), showing various locations mentioned in the text.



addition, nitrogen-fixing microphytic communitiesof biological crusts are a vitally important, butpoorly understood component of several of theseecotones, in particular of lomas ecosystems (seeBelnap 1995).

We naturally include the anthropogenic vegetationassociations of irrigated and huerta vegetation, sincethese have traditionally sustained a diversity of culti-vated and natural vegetation (see Pecho et al. 2010)that provide the key ecological type for the culturalintegration to restoration, as we define it above. Thehighly invasive non-native species Tamarix aphylla isdefined separately because it now forms huge mono-typic stands, completely dominating parts of theregion’s riparian ecosystem6 (see Fig. 2G).

Biodiversity Recovery — Dry Forestconservation and restorationThe Project aimed to conserve, and to demonstratetechniques to restore, biodiversity in the south coastregion, within the obvious limitations imposed byfunding and duration, and to thereby provide afoundation for further, subsequent work by anexpanding network of local communities and groups.We set out below the project’s activities towards thoseaims, starting with the conservation of natural vegeta-

tion relicts and summarising its restoration activitiesusing two contrasting case studies.

ConservationExtensive fieldwork and survey using remote sens-ing tools reveal only two relicts of dry forestremaining on the south coast of Peru (seeFig. 2A, B). The largest of these lies on the RíoPoroma, near Nazca. A conservation concession(Resolución de Intendencia No. 117-2007-INRENA-IFFS 15 Junio 2007) of 850 hectares, including theriparian woodland relicts of the Río Poroma, wasawarded through the Project to Grupo de Aves Perú(‘GAP’) in 2007 (see Fig. 2B).

In Peru, uncertainties in land ownership frequentlyaccompany ongoing legal disputes arising from theGovernment’s massive Agrarian Reform of 1975, andthese resulted in the reduction in size of thisconcession to 513 hectares. Most of the woodlandrelicts in the 337 hectares removed from the con-cession continue to be burned for charcoal. Theconcession took as its focus threatened bird popula-tions because here, as elsewhere, birds provide aneasily appreciated and emotive lever for wider con-servation efforts. In particular, it focused on theSlender-billed Finch (Xenospingus concolor), endemicto these Prosopis woodlands (S. Peru and N. Chile) andclassed as Near Threatened with decreasing popula-tion on the International Union for Conservation ofNature’s Red List 2008. A Memorandum of Under-standing (MOU) between GAP and RBG Kew definesthe ornithological expertise and study needed for theconcession. A second conservation concession, to coverthe last fragment of woodland close to the city of Ica, has

Table 2. Vegetation characterisation in the Ica region below c.1800 m.

Vegetation type Key species

Huarango dry-forest (0 – 550 m) Acacia macracantha, Pluchea chingoyo, Prosopis limensis, Schinus molle,Scutia spicata, Vallesia glabra

Riparian forest and scrub (0 – 600 m) Acacia macracantha, Baccharis lanceolata, Salix humboldtiana, Tessariaintegrifolia

Prosopis dune forest (50 – 550 m) Prosopis limensis (with Tillandsia spp. in fog streams)Cactus scrub forest (600 – 1500 m) Armatocereus procerus, Capparis avicennifolia, Maytenus octogona,

Neoraimondia arequipensis, Scutia spicata, Tara spinosa, Tecoma fulvaHuaycos — ephemeral streams or wadis (0 – 650 m) Capparis avicennifolia, Galvezia fruticosa, Grabowskia boerhaviifolia,

Parkinsonia praecox, Prosopis limensis, Schinus molle, Tecoma fulvaXerophytic Scrub (600 – 1800 m) Bulnesia retama, Cnidoscolus peruvianus, Orthopterygium huaucui,

Haageocereus spp.Lomas (600 – 1100 m) Krameria lappacea, Nolana spp., Stipa pachypus, Tara spinosa, Tillandsia

spp.Locally dominant Tamarix invasion (0 – 500 m) Tamarix aphyllaSaltmarsh and wetlands (0 – 480 m) Cyperus spp., Distichlis spicata, Equisetum giganteum, Salix humboldtiana,

Tessaria integrifolia, Typha domingensisBosque de acequia y huerta – woodland on irrigatedfloodplain and small agroforestry holdings (20 – 1000 m)

South coast plant crops in association with Acacia macracantha,Annona cherimola, Inga feuillei, Pouteria lucuma, Prosopis limensis (alsoMangifera indica, Carya illinoinensis and other non-nativeintroductions, many with locally developed varieties)

Microphytic and cryptobiotic communities (in biological crusts) Lichens, mosses, algae, cyanobacteria and fungi

6 The consequences of Tamarix invasion on soil salinity andriparian biodiversity are disastrous here as they have beenelsewhere in the Americas (see for instance Brock 1994).These lie beyond the scope of this paper, suffice to say thatcontinued planting of Tamarix is indicative of the dissociationbetween ecology and culture.



Fig. 8. Huarangos of Ica can reach huge sizes — this tree is unique but today nearly dead due to insect plagues, many veteranspecimens have now been converted to charcoal (2001).



been offered by the Government through an MOUbetween the Project partner and the Asociación paraNiños y su Ambiente (ANIA), an internationally recog-nised charity which promotes an innovative land owner-ship and management programme with children in Peruand other countries.

Throughout the south coast, the Project worked toassist the Instituto Nacional de Recursos Naturales(INRENA), the Peruvian Government institutioncharged with managing natural resources, with itsongoing efforts to monitor and control deforestation,through the provision of maps, data and capacitybuilding. This has, for instance, resulted in a regionalgovernment ordinance revoking all permissions to makecharcoal, and the prohibition of felling of huarango(Decreto Supremo No 043-2006-AG). Neither INRENAnor the regional government, however, have theresources necessary to enforce regulations over thewidely scattered valleys of the region, and illegalcharcoal making continues. This is compounded as nospecific regulation yet exists to prevent the destruction ofhabitat which, as already discussed appears to be a causal

factor in the widespread die-back of remaining huarangopopulations today (see Fig. 4A).

RestorationPlant species native to arid lands are commonlyadapted to episodic water availability and fragmented,marginal ecologies. When reduced to small numbers‘episodic species’ can nonetheless recover and repro-duce quickly (Whitford 2002). Despite the fragility ofthe arid ecosystem, habitat restoration can thereforeproceed remarkably rapidly when given sufficientmoisture, and boosted by the region’s high insolation.With access to ground water, growth rates of Prosopis,for example, can be spectacular (see Fig. 8) and thatof Schinus molle extraordinary. Naturally, in an environ-ment without rainfall, the main challenge faced byvegetation restoration in Ica is securing a source ofwater that can be delivered by local people andmonitored over time.

The Project established restoration trials in twotypes of location: with small local Ica communities

Fig. 9. A the project’s main tree nursery at the Faculty of Agronomy (UNICA); B installing a well pump in Huarangal; C native treesSchinus molle and Acacia macracantha established beneath Eucalyptus spp.; D plots in early stage compare planting techniquesand irrigation (2007).



(including San Pedro, Huarangal, Poblado Fonavi laAngostura) and on three Ica agro-industrial sites (seeMap 1). All these trials were served by a plant nursery set-up in the Faculty of Agronomy of the UniversidadNacional San Luis Gonzaga de Ica (UNICA). Monitoringof these restoration trials was carried out monthly initially,and later bi-monthly, by students fromUNICA supervisedby project staff. The local seed provenance, height, andarea of the canopy were recorded for each tree and shrubplanted. At the same time a series of water supply, planthealth and ecology, insect plague and phenology obser-

vations were made. The project has recorded almost halfa million of these items of data over all its monitoringsites, helping to determine how growth measures varyaccording to these various external factors.

Tree NurseryThe first step in the Project’s restoration activities was theestablishment of a plant nursery with a focus on nativetree and shrub species with the Faculty of Agronomy of

Fig. 10. A Huarangal terraced fields and irrigation systems (2007); B River downcutting between Molle Tambo and Huarangal(2008); C from Huarangal looking towards the Río Ica, huarango trees grey from plague and ciruela (Spondias purpurea) greenfrom flooding in 2007; D messages scratched into Neoraimondia arequipensis cacti record dates of water arrival Fthe 26 of January1957 came until the pampa…_(2007).



UNICA (see Fig. 9A). Until recently, the Faculty’sresearch and education programme has mirrored thatof local agro-industry, focusing on grape and asparagusproduction as well as onions, tomatoes and citrus, ratherthan native wild or locally domesticated species (otherthan cotton). The Project signed a MOU with theFaculty to introduce a new emphasis on native species,through the establishment of this plant nursery adjacentto UNICA’s existing nursery facilities. It is managed by amember of the UNICA Faculty, Felix Quinteros, withseveral decades of experience of traditional south coastagro-forestry, and in particular of the huarango.

The nursery propagated thirty — the majority — ofthe local woody species from seed or cuttings, developinggermination and propagation protocols with training bypersonnel from the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership(MSBP) and RBG Kew. This local capacity building wasvery successful with UNICA students, working to developlow cost seed storage, propagation and specialisedtechniques to achieve germination of certain small seeds.The nursery has now produced over 40,000 trees andshrubs to supply project restoration trials and treeplanting programmes.

Seed storage techniques followed methods developedby theMSBPwith adaptations for preservation from insectdamage which achieve, for instance, 98% germinationrates for 15 – 20 year old Prosopis seed stored at roomtemperature. Other studies included successful Prosopisgermination using 50 percent seawater. A UNICAgraduate has subsequently set up a successful privatetree nursery propagating native plants and the Project’stree nursery continues to be funded by Trees for Cities(TFC— UK registered charity) and ANIA.

In the following section we present case studies ofthe Project’s restoration trials in two contrastingenvironments and cultures: firstly in a small, localcommunity and secondly in a large local agro-industry,each providing its own useful insights.

Restoration Study Case 1 — The Hamletof HuarangalThe hamlet of Huarangal is one of three tiny villages inthe Quebrada de Tingue (Fig. 10A), an arid valley of theAndean foothills with a seasonally flowing river thatbraids into a series of dry streams that eventually mergewith the Río Ica from the east. These villages of Tingue(500 m), Huarangal (770 m) and Molletambo (1200 m)lie only around ten kilometres apart, but because of thealtitude transition have considerable ecological, agricul-tural and cultural differences between them.

The word ‘huarangal’means huarango woodland onthe south coast, and as recently as the 1980s there werelarge tracts of dry forest about the eponymous hamlet inthe Quebrada de Tingue. Today few traces of theseremain (Fig. 10A). The vegetation here is composed ofonly dry forest and shrub relicts of trees such as Acaciamacracantha, Capparis avicennifolia Kunth, Maytenusoctogona (L’Her.) DC., Parkinsonia praecox (Ruiz & Pav.ex Hook. & Arn.) Harms, Prosopis limensis and theendemic columnar cacti Armatocereus procerus Rauh &Backeb., Haageocereus spp., Cleistocactus peculiaris(Rauh & Backeb.) Ostolaza and Neoraimondia arequi-pensis (Meyen) Backeb., growing in association withthickets of Scutia spicata (Humb. & Bonpl. ex Willd.)Weberb. and Tecoma fulva (Cav.) G. Don (see Fig. 2D).

Fig. 11. A traditional technique called ‘caracol’, once used by local people to irrigate a variety of crops through a system ofconvoluted swales, making the maximum use of small amounts of water (2008). DRAWN BY O. Q. WHALEY.



This cactus assemblage grows also on the steep rock-covered valley walls together with Melocactus peruvianusVaupel and three extremely hardly xerophytes Bulnesiaretama (Gillies ex Hook. & Arn.) Griseb., Orthopterygiumhuaucui (Gray) Hemsl., and the threatened Cnidoscolusperuvianus (Müll. Arg.) Pax & K. Hoffm., all of whichare often associated with the cactus Neoraimondiaarequipensis (producing edible fruit). Other rareendemics of the genera Hoffmannseggia, Nolana andSolanum can be found following water flow in thequebrada, which happened only for a few days duringthe three-year duration of the project. Most of thesespecies are found in apparently functional assemblagesthat also provide habitat for rare birds, ants and lizardsthat perform seed dispersal and pollination roles.

Today, diminishing water availability has led todesertification and the depopulation of these hamlets,many of whose houses are now abandoned. Yetpersonal messages and descriptions of the wait forand arrival of water and other social affairs, engravedover a century into the columnar cacti (Neoraimondiaarequipensis) among their dry terraces and irrigationcanals, provide an unusual and poignant window intotheir past lives and historical ecology (see Fig. 10D andWhaley 2007). The river here flows only for a fewdays — or even hours — each year, during which timelocal people work to flood a small proportion of theterraced fields through sophisticated irrigation systemssuch as ‘caracol’ (see Fig. 11), to produce crops ofmaize, beans and chickpeas. This traditional ‘spateagriculture’ also sustains local biodiversity and vari-eties of useful trees (agrobiodiversity) along the fieldmargins and irrigation canal borders. These includethe fruit trees Inga feuillei, Pouteria lucuma (Ruiz. &Pav.) Kuntze and Spondias purpurea and multi-purposenative herbs such as Indigofera truxillensis and Waltheriaovata Cav. Here the coppicing of Acacia spp. canprovide a sustainable source fuelwood, without whichpeople resort to permanent removal of Prosopis.

Serious deforestation of huarango took place hereduring the twentieth century because its high calorificvalue made it an ideal fuel for smelting copper orefrom a series of small mines in the surrounding rockyslopes. Recent rises in the price of copper have seensome of these mines return to production, althoughtheir ore is now exported for smelting elsewhere.Local farmers now forsake their lands, even duringtimes of river flooding, to work the informal mines. Asirrigation is abandoned, natural forest and coppiceregeneration is curtailed, seed banks are eroded andconsequent deforestation for fuel and charcoalbecomes permanent. Without the protection affordedby local vegetation and compounded by deforestationhigher up along its catchment, the river has erodedand cut down into its already narrow floodplain toform an arroyo of up to 15 metres in depth (seeFig. 10B), leaving irrigation and terracing abandoned.

While the people of the hamlet, and in particular itsschool, welcomed the Project’s interest in Huarangal,the challenges faced here included: (i) whether nativetrees could be replanted by hand using well water alone;(ii) how local people could be kept engaged in theProject’s activities; (iii) what species wouldmeet people'sneeds but also provide for biodiversity; and (iv) whattraditional adaptive water management knowledgecould be incorporated into wider restoration policiesfor assisted natural regeneration.

Thirteen species of local native plants were plantedon the Huarangal restoration trial site. The irrigationof empty tree pits was used to measure any potentialnatural regeneration from the soil seed bank. Inagreement with its land owner, the area was fencedand a small pump and generator provided on loan, tolift water from an adjacent well (see Fig. 9B). Plantswere monitored every month and a constant dialoguemaintained with the local community.

Initially, the results of the Huarangal trial weremixed. For example, species such as Schinus molle andAcacia macracantha became well established whilstCapparis avicennifolia proved to be difficult. Howeverplant establishment longer term was limited by poorshallow soils and water availability — they could onlybe successfully established alongside existing vegetationrelicts or temporary river flood irrigation canals provid-ing humidity and organic content. Pumping waterproved uneconomical and, unlike river water, deficientin necessary nutrients. The Project avoided using anysoil amendment and local landowners were surprised atthe difficulty of reforestation, assuming ‘wild’ specieswould grow with little nurturing. Other interestingchallenges included the donkey used to haul watergrazing on seedlings, and people abandoning the landto work informal copper mines. Subsequently, however,watering was taken over quite successfully by thechildren and teachers of the local school, in return forseedlings of native fruit trees and the provision ofeducational books. The local community respected itsdesignation as a restoration area and its plant coverincreased with species such as Waltheria ovata (appreci-ated as a medicine) and Trixis cacalioides (Kunth) D.Don providing useful nectar sources for insects andhummingbirds. Despite the problems, therefore, theProject was able to record data for publication ofdetailed baseline changes in plant and bird diversity,together with ecological notes, traditional adaptivemanagement practices and ethnobotany.

The Huarangal trial showed that viable restorationin such locations must be based upon river flooding.This is impeded by the arroyo formation which has leftirrigation intakes ‘hanging’. Yet there are techniquesknown locally and still used occasionally to effectivelyrebuild the river bed by using collective labour ormachinery to lever and move boulders into it. Whenthe seasonal river flood arrives it brings huge quanti-



ties of river gravels and suspended sediments (knownas huaycos) which, in a matter of hours, backfill theseboulder impediments and raise the riverbed betweenone and five metres, thereby reconnecting river flowwith irrigation channel intakes. This rebuilding of theriverbed in these quebradas is the prerequisite step toany efforts to carry out restoration of their endemicplant communities, ecosystem services and agro-bio-diversity, which depend in turn upon traditionalirrigation methods. Indeed, this technique may haveconsiderably wider application for larger-scale naturalreforestation and carbon-capture. Judging from meet-ings with many of the stakeholders, this collective taskhas the capacity to regenerate not only biodiversityand agriculture but also community and culture.

The ongoing project is now looking at incomepossibilities from ‘carbon farming’ and traditionaltechniques are being incorporated into the schools’‘planting a future’ programme such as the use of ‘seedballs’, whereby clumps of mud and mixtures of seedsof naturally occurring species, are baked, dried andlater buried in the courses of irrigation canals andephemeral streams to await natural flooding.7

Restoration Case Study 2 — Agro-IndustryAs we have observed, the past twenty years have seen arapid expansion of agro-industry in Ica beyond thetraditional river flood plain, into areas of marginaldunes, Andean outwashes and ephemeral stream sys-tems. Irrigation is provided with ground water fromdeep bore holes. These large agro-industrial farms,known as ‘fundos’ are the largest source of employmentin Ica and offer many other benefits to local peoplethrough, for instance, schools and social responsibilityprogrammes. However, many recent studies (see forinstance INRENA 2007 and Rosales 2009) indicate thatthe huge expansion in agro-industry has caused over-exploitation of ground water resources, and watertables are clearly falling in some areas. This, and issuesof contamination through massive use of pesticides,herbicides and fertilisers, are critical concerns. Yet it isalso the Project’s experience that many fundos arewilling, and importantly able, to take the lead in effortsto protect biodiversity and ecosystems, while localgovernment and NGOs struggle for funding. Theirowners and managers may lack information on nativebiodiversity, but once furnished with it they can besympathetic to its conservation and restoration.

Naturally, fundos work to maintain an environmentfree of weeds, many of which are pan-tropical orintroduced species, but also include some rare nativeendemics such as Hoffmannseggia spp., Solanum spp.,Nolana spp. and a poorly known Malvaceae. Native

shrubs include Atriplex rotundifolia Dombey ex Moq.,Encelia canescens Lam., Galvezia fruticosa J. F. Gmel., Loasaincana Graham, Nicotiana paniculata L., Pluchea chingoyoDC. and Trixis cacalioides (Kunth) D. Don. Most largefundos are located between 300 m and 600 m beneaththe endemic quebrada cactus zone that starts around620 m (see Fig. 2D). Their irrigation and fertilisermanagement can be centrally controlled using sophisti-cated computer models to determine growth ratesaccording to market demands. Soluble chemical fertil-isers are mixed with ground waters pumped from wellsand boreholes between 10 and 100 metres deep, andinjected into a pressurised drip-feed that can supplyseveral hundred hectares. Some fundos use high qualityintegrated pest management (IPM) and employ residententomologists to try to minimise the application ofpesticides which are otherwise applied routinely.

The impact of fundos on the biodiversity of Ica ishard to quantify for there are few published studies, butthey certainly have diminished connectivity betweennatural habitats. While some fruit-producing fundoscontrol birds, others are starting to play a significantrole in their protection, for instance by producing birdbooks to raise public awareness (see Pulido et al. 2007)or breeding hawks to scare other birds. Desert foxes(Pseudalopex culpaeus) — key seed disperser for thehuarango and other plants — are often encouraged infundos because they control mice. European Unionregulations covering imported agricultural productssuch as EurepGAP (Good Agricultural Practices) is a‘global partnership for safe and sustainable agriculture’that along with supermarket’s individual standardsinclude provisions for social responsibility and, moreweakly, for their impact on biodiversity (of course, it isone our axioms here that there is considerable overlapbetween the two). These have made agro-industrieskeener to demonstrate biodiversity consideration,although auditing remains poor.

Nonetheless, the impact of fundos on native fruittrees has been detrimental because their programmesfor eradicating the fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata) prohibitplanting them within their grounds and even detertheir planting in the fundo vicinity. As we have seen,however, some of these tree species, such as pacay (Ingafeuillei) and indeed huarango, accomplish importantsoil improvements and are very conservative consumersof water, which have made them important to tradi-tional sustainable agriculture in Ica (see for instancePennington & Fernández 1998; Beresford-Jones 2011).The Project therefore held discussions with some agro-industries to persuade them of this potential and thevarious social and biodiversity benefits which they alsobring. These led to agreements with three fundos,setting out long-term commitments to restoration trialsin their grounds. Restoration trials in a fundo settingenjoy a number of advantages over trials in smallcommunities that include: (i) they are more easily

7 See Page 41 at http://www.kew.org/icaperu/Restauracion_libro.pdf



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controlled, for instance protected from disruption bygrazing animals; (ii) irrigation can be provided free orat low cost; (iii) their management and large localworkforce are mostly recent immigrants to the region,to whom it is particularly important to disseminateinformation about native plants.

Suitable trees and shrubs to use in restoration trialswere selected according to local ethnobotanical knowl-edge, archaeobotanical evidence and reference to relicthabitats. They were propagated from local provenance inthe Project’s tree nursery and included Acacia macracan-tha, Bulnesia retama, Capparis avicennifolia, Galvezia fruti-cosa, Grabowskia boerhaviifolia (L. f.) Schltdl., Lyciumamericanum Jacq., Parkinsonia praecox, Pluchea chingoyo(Kunth) DC., Prosopis limensis, Schinus molle, Scutia spicata,Tecoma fulva (Cav) G. Don subsp. guarume (A. DC.) J. R.I. Wood and Vallesia glabra (Cav) Link. About fivethousand plants were established in these fundo trials.The Project worked with the fundo labour forces as wellas management, involving them in planting and plan-ning throughout, thereby helping the dissemination oflocal knowledge to workers. Three methods of restora-tion trial were developed in accordance with thelocation of existing vegetation relicts within fundos and,of course, the limitations imposed by fundomanagement:

(i) The planting of native woodland to replace non-native species in windbreaks and hedgerows usingdrip-feed irrigation. Non-native species commonlyused in fundos include: Acacia karroo Hayne, intro-duced from Africa for its impenetrable thorns; Tamarixaphylla, a highly invasive Old World introduction; andEucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh., whose water con-sumption is an order of magnitude higher than localtree species (see for example Malik & Sharma 1990).

(ii) Establishment of native species in comparativeplots using low consumption drip-feed, manual surfaceand sub-surface irrigation regimes and grey (sewage)water. As well as watering regimes these plots com-pared planting techniques and densities.

(iii) Long-term areas of locally referenced habitatrestoration, including measures to attract birds, andcomparing drip-feed and traditional tree pit watering.

At the Chapi site, after three years (see Fig. 12) followingthe planting of three hectares with twenty-four precur-sor species, over seventy new plant species were‘recruited’ (appearing naturally), where sufficient sur-face humidity was provided by drip-feed lines produc-ing weekly pulses of 7 – 10 litres of water per plant inwinter and 15 – 18 litres in summer. These includedAndean endemics such as three species of Hoffmann-seggia, Solanum chilense (Dunal) Reiche, Tarasa operculata(Cav.) Krapov. and Loasa incana, as well as pan-tropicalweeds and the non-native invasive Ricinus communis L.

and Tamarix aphylla, which were subsequently removed.The installation of bird perches and nesting poles,

combined with the recruitment of fast growingCompositae (Baccharis salicifolia (Ruiz. & Pav.) Pers.,Tessaria integrifolia Ruiz. & Pav., Pluchea chingoyo andTrixis cacalioides) attracted thirty-nine bird species,including the plumbeous rail (Pardirallus sanguinolen-tus) which is indicative of habitat density, and twoendemic reptile species8 in the Chapi site (Tenorio &Pérez 2010).9 Indeed, on one site the fundo’s ento-mologist recorded that the introduction of nativeplants promoted a significant increase in biocontrolof pests by predator insect and bird species. Analysis ofseed in bird droppings found that their recruitment tothe restoration area explained the subsequent germi-nation here of native Solanum pimpinellifolium L. andSolanum spp., as well as asparagus and Opuntia ficus-indica (L.) Mill.

Both Acacia macracantha, Schinus molle and Prosopislimensis were able to grow under, and then replace,existing Eucalyptus windbreaks. Tecoma fulva cuttingsplanted along a dry stream margin and drip-irrigatedformed thick stands over five metres wide whichattracted four species of hummingbirds (Amaziliaamazilia, Thaumastura cora, Rhodopis vesper and Mirtysfanny) as well as the vulnerable endemic red-headedlizard Dicrodon heterolepis. In 2007 flooding into this drystream allowed a study of natural regeneration. Thepioneering role of Tiquila paronychioides (Phil.) A. T.Richardson in attracting ant colonies and allowinggermination of leguminous endemic nitrogen-fixers(Hoffmannseggia spp. and Dalea spp.) was observed.Subsequently, Pluchea, Atriplex, Prosopis and Acacia grewin these associations, together forming resourceislands for pollinators and seed dispersers.

Analysis was made of comparative plots plantedwith three selected native tree species, Acacia macra-cantha, Prosopis limensis and Schinus molle, using a lowwatering regime of only one litre per week. Plantsgrown with an asparagus ‘straw’mulch showed twice asmuch average growth in aggregated height, and threetimes for canopy area, when compared to those withmulch (see Fig. 9D) (these plots also included Lyciumamericanum, Grabowskia boerhaviifolia, Tecoma fulva andTara spinosa (Molina) Britton & Rose). However,mulching had far more impact on Acacia andSchinus growth than on Prosopis, for which it madelittle difference. Comparing irrigation regimes, thebest growth measures of both height and canopy area

8 Microlophus thoracicus icae restricted to the coast from Lima toIca and Dicrodon heterolepis (Tumbes-Ica) that is vulnerable(INRENA 2004, 2006).

9 Under the Project MOU, the fundo is committed to desig-nation of the habitat restoration area as an Área de Con-servación Privada (ACP), which confers long-term protectionunder a government scheme.



were achieved by sub-surface watering, using aninexpensive, simple method of 3 and 4 litre recycledplastic bottles10 as dispensers, developed by the Project.11

Under this irrigation regime of only 3 – 4 litres/week, allspecies achieved significantly increased heights andcanopy areas. Prosopis grew over 100%, Acacia 20%and Schinus 300% more than traditional tree pit-watering. This sub-surface method thus provides anexcellent way to avoid water evaporation. Prosopis wasthe fastest to establish at the start of the growingseason.

Comparing density of planting, while Prosopisheights were unaffected, canopy area grew twice asmuch in low density planting. Acacia grew twice ashigh in low density, whereas Schinus was ten timestaller in high density planting. All species with a sub-soil watering regime developed much lower branch-ing. Outside the comparative plots, Schinus molleproved exceptionally fast growing — up to 4.5 metres

in 18 months — in areas where drip-feed (c. 10 litres/day) irrigation was supplemented by the irrigation ofan adjacent asparagus crop to provide humidity downto depths below 2.5 metres (see Fig. 9C). Results forgrey water plots showed high rates of establishment ofBulnesia retama, a plant typical of the Ica region,together with the invasive non-native weed Tribulusterrestris L. Sewage dumping allowed the establishmentof a grove of Prosopis limenis and Parkinsonia praecoxwith a high biodiversity including birds, desert foxesand native bees.

This brief overview of the Project’s restoration trialsshows that almost all native plants and even trees canbe successfully established in trials with very low waterconsumption regimes, although clearly differentplants respond to varying degrees. Capparis avicennifo-lia, for instance, was very slow-growing in all trials andits rarity in Ica is therefore unsurprising. Establish-ment for certain species can be greatly augmented byappropriately chosen sub-soil watering, planting den-sities and mulching regimes.

The Project continues to disseminate its detailedfindings in the Ica region as we go on to describe below.

Fig. 12. Habitat restoration in agro-industry (FFundo Chapi_).

11 See page 47 of http://www.kew.org/icaperu/Restauracion_libro.pdf

10 Fizzy drink bottles of any brand widely available in Peru.





Connecting Plants and PeopleWehave already discussed the particular social conditionsthat make so urgent a re-engagement between peopleand plants in the Ica Region today. Such ecological-cultural re-engagement is necessary if the Project’sconservation and restoration work is to leave a sustain-able legacy and is, thus axiomatic to the ecosystemapproach to conservation and restoration adopted here.To do so, the Project worked to engage with localcommunities at several levels, including local govern-ment and through radio, television and print media. Yetparticular emphasis was placed on engaging youngerpeople. Much of the population of Ica is under twentyyears old and are the children of recent immigrants tothe region. As we will describe, a local schools pro-gramme run by local women trained during the projectin collaboration with the children’s charity ANIA,provided a most effective way of fostering the Project’saims and sharing information with the flexibleminds of ageneration that will of course, define the region’s future.

EducationThe Project worked to help children and youngpeople understand native species and ecology throughworkshops for teachers; a school tree planting pro-gramme (working in thirty schools); and collaborationwith the education department of local government todesign aspects of school curricula.

The Project’s school tree planting programmehelped the selection of native trees and shrubs thatprovided ecosystem services such as soil improvement,shade, food and fuel. These included especiallyproductive varieties of huarango (Prosopis limensis)and other native fruit trees such as lucúma (Pouterialucuma), guava (Psidium guajava), pacay (Inga feuillei)and chirimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.) as well asfuelwood species like espino (Acacia macracantha).With these trees we included a range of shrubs (withmedicinal properties) including cahuato (Tecoma fulva)and toñúz (Pluchea chingoyo) for their ecological healthassociations. Because of its many uses and potential inarid conditions the non-native Tamarind (Tamarindusindica L.) was trialled from local stock, but withoutcultural recognition, was not popular with local people.

Schools provided ideal locations for tree planting.Most have fairly large grounds surrounded by wallsproviding protection from grazing animals and traffic.The programme’s basic requirement was access toirrigation water, preferably from canals or grey water,although often only mains supply was available. In duecourse the school becomes a central locus from whichseeds and information can be spread to the huertas ofchildren’s families. Indeed, any landowners wishing toplant native trees were supplied with seedlings andtechnical advice, if they could demonstrate a sustain-able water source. The planting programme proved

extremely popular with demand limited only by supply,dictated in turn by the Project’s funding restrictions.

Teachers and pupils visited the Project’s nursery tolearn about techniques as well as species identifica-tion, seed collection and propagation. As supportingmaterial the Project produced and distributed to mostIca schools a series of educational posters on plants,birds and reptiles of Ica. The Project also produced aseries of large banners (called ‘gigantografía’) of hardwearing vinyl plastic on themes relating to the ecologyof Ica, which were hung in trees or halls at theeducational talks that preceded school plantingevents. Three years on these are still being used inschools, universities and diverse public events. Afterthese events sweet refreshments were provided madeby the project from huarango pods (Miskyhuaranga)including sponge cakes, buns with syrup, toasted pod‘coffee’ and juice from locally grown fruit, stimulatingan interest and excitement in local plants.

The Project also worked with ANIA to implementthat charity’s successful model whereby a school orcommunity, under a legally recognised agreement,hands over an area of several hectares or more to itschildren to own and manage. Guidance was providedby teachers trained by the ANIA team, through whomthe project disseminated planting and restorationtechniques, species identification and basic ecology.Local Project personnel were trained in ANIA’smethodologies of cultural and social integration (seewww.mundodeania.org). Such agreements providededucational planting for 12 schools and an orphanageand informal planting in ten others, whilst providingtrees to other organisations.

To date, thanks to the Project, over 4,000 people inIca have planted a native tree. Meanwhile, around5,400 Iqueños have attended lectures, planting events,workshops and small talks. Students from NewcastleUniversity and army cadets from the UK have assisted arange of Project activities including seed collection,propagation, habitat restoration and tree plantingcampaigns. These visits stimulate considerable localinterest and pride in the Project’s work. Thus theproject has fostered other NGO's and volunteer groups,such as A Rocha and U.S. Peace Corps, to begin nativetree planting activities and extend the program in Ica.

The Huarango FestivalThe Project’s Huarango Festival, held annually as athree day event over the second weekend in April(coinciding with the huarango pod harvest), washosted by the Instituto Nacional de Cultura (INC-Ica) in the grounds of the Museo Regional de Ica.The festival aimed to promote cultural connectionsto the local environment through celebration ofhuarango, the emblematic tree of Ica. The Projectused the festival as a forum for dissemination of



http://www.mundodeania.org

information on native plants, animals and ecologyand tree propagation methods. Project studentsworked hard to conduct a series of biodiversityand ecology talks to over 500 children at eachfestival. The Project presented a series of huarangoproducts (called Miskyhuaranga) for tasting and salemade from the sweet, highly nutritious pods. Huar-ango based products from other producers (such asthe organic fundo Samaca and communities fromPalpa and Nazca) were also sold or given out fortasting including syrup (huarangina), ice-cream,empanadas, cakes, biscuits, ink, pod ‘coffee’, marma-lade, chicha (fermented beverage), and stews. Otheractivities included folkloric and contemporary danceand music, competitions and prizes, theatre and storytelling. At each festival some 2,500 huarango seed-lings from particularly productive varieties werehanded out. The Huarango Festival proved extremelypopular — attracting, for instance, over 3,500 peoplein 2007.

Cultural Engagement — Towards a SustainableProject LegacyOne of the Project’s most important legacies is awidening cultural inclusion of the activities of con-servation, restoration and sustainable management.We have already reviewed some of the evidence of thisabove. It is especially promising, for instance, that theannual Huarango Festival started by the Project, isnow organised under the auspices of the Ministry ofTourism (Ministerio de Comercio Exterior y Turismo(MINCETUR)) and has become firmly established inthe municipal and regional civic calendar. Moreover,the Project has lobbied for, and assisted with, thedevelopment of regional government policy and laws.A new police division has been inaugurated chargedwith the remit of environmental protection (Divisiónde Turismo y Protección del Medio Ambiente PNP) which isan important step towards the proper control of illegalhuarango deforestation and charcoal making. TheProject has provided capacity building and treeplanting events with eight of the Municipal depart-ments of Ica. Through the tenacious efforts of theproject's team in Ica, most municipalities are nowaware of the importance of native plants and areworking to plant huarango and other native species inplace of introduced ornamental trees.

Considerable international press coverage of theProject’s aims (including, for instance, by the BBC andthe New York Times), have helped promote local pridein the Project and interest in the culturally-interdepend-ent links it espouses between ecology, archaeology andtourism. The Project’s Huarango Festivals attractedcoverage by television, radio and print media, therebydisseminating its aims and achievements to a wideaudience and attracting the involvement of regionalgovernment and local landowners.

Yet perhaps this Project legacy is best gauged by theever-increasing demand today for information andassistance on tree planting and restoration activities byschools, communities and agroindustry reported by thelocal team. Those ongoing activities require stimulatingand practical publications (see for instance Whaley et al.2010a, b). Yet they also need talented communicatorsto promote its biodiversity objectives with universities,churches, schools, government, and the wider com-munity. The Project has made great efforts to employthe right staff and has benefited enormously from verytrustworthy women in lead roles. Peruvian studentshave gained valuable experience with the Project andhave presented their findings in academic fora in Peru,the UK, Brazil and Chile and also to governmentagencies and local community audiences, therebyhoning their new communication skills.

Alongside the rather obvious economic and ecolog-ical incentives for restoration and conservation activ-ities to take place, the Project has found that anecessary first step in the engagement process was theidentification of useful local species which areunknown to many recent migrants, urban populationsand land managers from Lima. Since around three-quarters of Ica’s population have recently moved downfrom the sierra, many simply don’t know, for instance,what a huarango tree provides and thus it is used onlyfor firewood. Likewise, that when familiar Andeanplants, that have been traditionally used for medicines,are not freely available they can be replaced by localspecies. The Project has, therefore, published twobooks in Spanish with Quechua title pages, firstlyPlantas y Vegetación de Ica, Perú — Un recurso para surestauración y conservación (Plants and Vegetation ofIca, Peru — a resource for restoration and conserva-tion); and secondly, Sembrando un Futuro — restauracióny manejo sostenible de los bosques y naturaleza de Ica, Perú*Available in draft black and white, but shortly to bepublished in the same color format as the former.(Planting a Future — restoration and sustainablemanagement of forest and nature of Ica) (see Fig. 13).

The books are aimed at a local audience but,moreover, designed to appeal to children and landmanagers alike by presenting information in an easilyaccessible and engaging format. They are written innon-technical language with many diagrams andphotographs illustrating the findings of the project’sinterdisciplinary studies. They include detailed identi-fication guides to local woody plants using local andscientific names, biodiversity, propagation and ecolog-ical studies, as well the results of restoration trials.Their copious colour photographs (Plantas y Vegetaciónde Ica has over 800 photographs in 100 pages) seek toengage people regardless of their reading interest.They are also illustrated with many examples ofancient Nasca iconography of local plants, and acultural theme strip throughout including newspaper



cuttings, archaeobotanical investigations, uses of localplants, and links to online resources.12 The books aimto place the long cultural history of the south coastregion within its ecological context underlining theimportance of these native species to human wellbeingand livelihoods.

ConclusionsThe south coast of Peru is a hyperarid environment inwhich both people and plants are dependent onsporadic and unpredictable sources of water, but also,crucially where both depend intimately on each other.Here ecosystem services such as water regulation andbiological diversity are provided by some types ofagriculture and debilitated or destroyed by others.New methods of intensive agriculture are crucial forthe region’s employment and economic prosperity, yetthey would do well to incorporate aspects of tradi-tional practices built upon thousands of years ofexperience. This region’s desert ecology is fragileand sustainable agriculture is only possible throughcombinations of crops with native vegetation habitats.Successful agro-forestry adaptations incorporate

important native trees such as the huarango and pacay,which underpin biodiversity and soil fertility and allowsedentary sustainable agriculture (without costly chem-ical fertilisers and pesticides). Indeed appropriate agro-biodiversity maintains not only livelihoods, but also thehydrological and soil fertility cycles on which industrialagriculture depends. This need to link restoration withagriculture — as one of its long-term benefactors andbeneficiaries — while recognising that the two havedifferent immediate priorities, has been noted else-where by Aronson et al. (2010).

We have suggested how an integration of restora-tion and agriculture (and their respective techniques)may be achieved through a matching of objectives andsharing of skills and resources with different driverstowards a common goal in Ica. Restoration struggles tofind funding, especially in developing countries inwhich government funds are rarely available. Partner-ship with thriving agroindustry provides an obviousalternative for both funding and land for restorationactivities. And this especially when those industries canbe furnished with serious cost-benefit analyses setagainst a background of increasing internationalconsumer demand for products from socially andecologically responsible producers. For agriculture(and its consumers) stand to benefit from theecosystem services provided by restoration and the

Fig. 13. Two project books published in Spanish for local use: Plantas y Vegetación de Ica, Perú — Un recurso para surestauración y conservación and Sembrando un Futuro* — restauración y manejo sostenible de los bosques y naturaleza de Ica,Perú (2010).

12 Species vouchers can be accessed from the new herbarium setup by the Project in UNICA faculty of sciences.



resources it provides for local biodiversity manage-ment. Habitat restoration within an otherwise indus-trial farm can use native plants to improve soil, sheltercrops, provide biocontrol, sequester carbon, reducewater demand and provide biodiversity conservation(to mention but a few of its benefits), while providinga protected source of vegetation propagules forrestoration beyond its borders.

But to succeed, ecological and habitat restorationrequires an understanding of the changing relation-ship of wider society to its natural resources andecosystem. The importance of recognising both theenvironmental and social aspects of restoration isbecoming increasingly recognised (see for instanceEden & Tunstall 2006); and, of course, restorationproject goals must be based upon proper consider-ation of ecological, financial and social constraints(see Miller & Hobbs 2007). Collaborations betweenecologists, ethnobotanists and archaeologists carryingout field-based research can provide deep insights intohistorical and indeed pre-historical human ecology —and thus the changing relationship between societyand natural resources. Most of all they offer importantlessons for the management of natural resources in thepresent. Nowhere is this more so than on the south coastof Peru where ancient collapses in societies are evidentin the archaeological record, and whose causes lie ininteractions between the environment — through forinstance El Niño flooding — and human impact on adelicate desert vegetation. It has also never been moretrue than it is today in Ica, as economic migrants fromthe sierra have flocked to supply a booming agro-industry with labour thereby dislocating society fromlocal traditions of agriculture and resource manage-ment, and where there are virtually no undisturbednative ecologies left.

The experience of our project in Ica has shown usthe value of placing modern conservation and restora-tion efforts in a context of widespread interest in localand global ecology, and history. Successful restorationand sustainable management compel us to breakdown cultural barriers in a spirit of tolerance andmutual benefit. Education should stimulate newcultural collaboration with biodiversity, placing it inthe context of an ecosystem responsible for humanwellbeing and economies. In the case of Ica, thesebenefits include immediate economic returns fromtraditional products, reduced risk to climatic pertur-bations, and more equitable — and thus sociallysustainable — distribution of land and water resour-ces: in short an improved quality of life for localpeople over the longer term. These benefits need tobe widely and repeatedly communicated. Researchand collaboration should not be confined merely toacademic or scientific publication, but seek also toinform and involve local people so as to facilitate atransition from unsustainable to sustainable resource

management. This has been the approach we haveadopted in Ica with the Project’s educational restora-tion driven by local people; its festival, reviving syner-gies of culture and native vegetation; and its partneringwith local governmental and educational institutions aswell as national and international NGOs.

The practical restoration of nature so urgentlyrequired today, can perhaps only be successful inmany areas, such as Ica, when linked to agriculturalpractice that restores ecosystem function. It must atonce provide food, fuel and medicine, improvingwellbeing, providing jobs and decreasing poverty.Connectivity of ecosystems is essential for sustainablerestoration, but depends also on ‘connectivity ofminds’. Without such connections between labourand boardrooms; across the physical barriers of fencesand the cultural barriers between immigrants andlocals, the worn out and stressed ecosystems of thePeruvian south coast will have little hope of survivingeven the next few years. Compounded by the uncer-tain impacts of climate change is the real need now toconnect people with their natural and cultural herit-age. For these stories are, of course, intertwined andforever being written.

AcknowledgmentsThe Project was funded largely by the Darwin Initiative(DEFRA) through the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.We thank also other funders, local sponsors andparticipants: the Asociación para la Niñez y MedioAmbiente (ANIA); Bettys and Taylor, Trees for CitiesUK; the Bentham-Moxon Trust; Grupo de Aves Perú(GAP); Agrícola Chapi S.A; Sociedad Agrícola DrokasaS.A.; Fundo Chanca, the McDonald Institute forArchaeological Research, University of Cambridge;Susana Arce and the Museo Regional de Ica (INC-Ica); Rio Tinto; the Universidad Nacional Agraria LaMolina (UNALM); the Universidad Nacional San LuisGonzaga de Ica (UNICA) and Alberto Benavídes,Aniceto Daza, Carlos Reynel, Julio y Julia Sanchez,Olivia Sejuro, and many more. And most importantlyall the Project’s dedicated team in Ica especially:Helver Álvarez, Consuelo Borda, Ciro Gómez, StefaniaGrimaldo, Clauda Lüthi, Marco Mendoza, OctavioPecho, Evelyn Pérez, Félix Quinteros, Flor Salvatierra,Miguel Soto and Mario Tenorio.

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