Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was in Peru to open the 15th session of the UNIDO General Conference in Lima, took the opportunity to visit one of GEF SGP's biodiversity projects in El Agustino. Manuel Pulgar, Minister of Environment and Emilia Bustamante, National Coordinator for SGP Peru, joined Ban Ki-moon on the tour. The project stood out for its skillful combination of endangered species conservation, innovative water rehabilitation technologies and women's empowerment.

During his visit, SG Ban Ki-moon learned how the women revived an indigenous species called "Tara", a plant that has high economic and medicinal value and is good in securing the soil and preventing landslides. By choosing to cultivate Tara, the women rescued and conserved ancestral knowledge about this endangered native species. To date, the women managed to afforest 17,900 square meters of land with more than 2,500 Tara trees and created a nursery, where they planted 1,000 aloe plants.

A particular notable aspect was the women's creation of an artificial wetland – or biofilter - for decontaminating the polluted water of the Rimac River and irrigating the nursery plants. The biofilter has drawn widespread attention, attracting visitors from various parts of the country to learn more about this innovative technology. In addition, 100 environmental agents were trained in the production of organic fertilizers, seed cultivation, maintenance of nursery species and processing of Tara.

SGP provided technical and financial support to this women-led project to rehabilitate degraded land along the banks and hillsides of the río Rímac in the region of El Agustino. The area had been highly vulnerable to landslides due to lack of vegetation cover and occasional rises in the river level during the raining season in the Andean Highlands. In addition, the river's water had also become increasingly polluted as garbage and transient people settled along the banks.

As it is often common in SGP projects, this biodiversity project has had multiple effects on other areas of work that are usually interlinked at the community level. In this instance the project not only managed to rescue a native species but also helped address land degradation and the potential damages of climate change impacts.

After the visit to the project, the SG Ban Ki-moon was impressed by the strong women's leadership and achievement and remarked that "by planting the [species] Tara along the banks of this river, you can really help fight the impact of climate change".

A video on the visit can also be viewed at:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDzDESR4uEg

http://elcomercio.pe/actualidad/1668335/noticia-mujeres-agustino-impresionaron-ban-ki-moon-proyecto-forestacion