Millions of ‘cloud trees’ are being planted in the Andes

Constantino Aucca Chutas is leading a group of conservationists on mission to restore forests of the world’s highest-altitude trees.

The ancient mountains of the Andes are home to spectacled bears, pumas and the magnificent Andean condor. They’re also home to forests of lesser-known but critically important polylepis – known as “cloud trees.” Growing up to 5,000 meters above sea level, they are the highest-altitude trees in the world and are known to absorb and retain water from clouds and the Andes’ melting glaciers. Slowly, they release this water through spongy moss that covers the trees, feeding the mountain streams and, eventually, the headwaters of the Amazon River. In the past, polylepis forests covered vast areas of the mountain range, but today, after hundreds of years of deforestation and development, just 500,000 hectares remain, thought to be between 1% and 10% of the original forest. As a result, ecosystems have degraded, and the forests no longer provide a natural barrier to flooding or erosion. The water security of the millions of people who live in the foothills of the Andes is also at risk. Constantino Aucca Chutas, a Peruvian biologist whose grandparents were farmers from the indigenous Quechua community, felt compelled to protect his ancestral lands and the people who live on them. “I’m proud of being an Inca descendant,” he tells CNN. “When I was a child, I grew up near rivers, enjoying seeing the creatures and all this magnificent nature. I thought to myself, it would be fantastic if we can pass this to the new generations.” In 2018, he co-founded Acción Andina, a joint initiative between US nonprofit Global Forest Generation and Peruvian nonprofit Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos, dedicated to restoring the highland forest and protecting the local communities that depend on it. Work began in Peru, but has since spread across Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile and Colombia, with the ultimate goal of protecting and restoring one million hectares of native Andean forest by 2045.