Peru has launched an ambitious drive to regrow millions of hectares (acres)
of jungle and forests laid bare by illegal logging, pollution and slash-and-burn
farming, officials said Thursday.
The immediate goal is to reforest more than 100,000 square kilometers (the size
of South Korea) of forest that have been devastated these past 40 years, said
National Institute of Natural Resources (Inrena) president Roberto Angeles.
Inrena has begun a massive planting program in Peru's Amazon jungle basin, along
the Pacific coastline and in the Andes highlands with a variety of trees
including eucalyptus, pine, cypress, walnut, cedar, alder, ash and poplar.
In mahogany saplings alone, the institute plans to plant one million in the next
two years.
"The importance of managed forests is that they are fully exploitable, compared
to natural forests which, when completely uprooted, would cause the destruction
of the ecosystem," said Angeles.
He said the reforestation program relies on 1,680 nurseries across the country
that together can grow 52 million saplings per year and will soon be equipped
with more efficient computer-regulated irrigation systems.
Inrena said it currently manages some 200 square kilometers of forests around
the country with 2,000 employees. By comparison, Chile manages 22,000 square
kilometers of forest with 250,000 employees, and Brazil has 60,000 square
kilometers managed by 800,000 employees.
The Peruvian territory includes 680,000 square kilometers of forests, 93 percent
in the Amazon jungle basin, four percent along the coastline and three percent
in the Andean highlands.
International environmental groups have estimated that Earth is losing its
forest covering at the rate of five percent a year.