Tina Christmann
Former ECI DPhil student

A study of motivations driving restoration of the Peruvian Andes has revealed water provision as a key motivator. The study, led by Dr Tina Christmann, an former ECI DPhil student, combined fieldwork and collaboration with local institutions who support forest restoration efforts in the Andean forest. The study focused not only on environmental restoration but also on understanding the social, economic, and institutional factors that influence the success of these efforts. 
Dr Tina Christmann, now Lecturer in Environmental Science at Southampton University, discusses her holistic approach.

The Andes are a global biodiversity hotspot, but many ecosystems within it, such as the Andean forests have been reduced by centuries of human over-exploitation, creating large opportunities for forest restoration to recover biodiversity and improve livelihoods for Andean communities.

A Polylepis restoration site surrounding an Alpine lake in the Huascarán National Park
T.Christmann

A Polylepis restoration site surrounding an Alpine lake in the Huascarán National Park

In an interactive field study and working together with Peruvian government and non-government institution, I led a team and travelled across the Peruvian Andes and visited 10 forest restoration projects. The team conducted 75 interviews with farmers, NGO project managers and government actors to understand why they restore forests, what they want to achieve, and what promotes or limits success.

Tina Christmann interviewing a herder in the Puna grasslands
T.Christmann

Interviewing a herder in the Puna grasslands

We found that everyone involved, particularly farming communities, cares most about bringing forest back to restore water resources. Many interviewees told us that the Andean forests are like ‘sponges’ that keep water in the landscape and buffer against droughts:

You have to reforest for sowing and harvesting water you have to work well with the planting, choose which plants attract water well, in the case of Queñua [Polylepis spp.], the paja [Stipa Icchu] also traps the mist” (Community leader).

Interviewees also value the forests for keeping the climate stable and reducing soil erosion. Overall, restoration efforts were ranked as successful across all sites with many sites visited already developed into a young forest. Social and institutional factors played a significant role in enabling success, such as community dependence on resources, the local NGOs providing support, and a project design which was participatory and guided by conservation agreements. Particularly, building long-term capacity in the community – such as by enabling communities to sustainably manage the forests and create new livelihoods – made restoration projects succeed for over decades. Projects also had to deliver tangible short-term benefits (e.g. community fund payments) and intangible long-term benefits (e.g. ecosystem services, improved governance structures) to be auto sufficient and persist beyond project termination.

We also spoke to our interviewees about their preferences for future projects. Andean communities prefer planting native species and useful local plants which help to retain water or improve agriculture (e.g. by providing erosion control or fertilisation through their falling leaves). We also found that many interviewees see forest nestled within a mosaic of other ecosystems worthy of protection, like the mountain grasslands and peatlands, and pointed out the need to restore these to secure water provision and their livelihoods.

What we must plant around these fields is basul [Erythrina falcata], pisonay [Erythrina edulis] because the leaves are going to feed the plants. […] Pisonay can serve as fodder for guinea pigs and cows” (Community member).

A lady from the community of Aquia collects Polylepis stakes for propagation
T.Christmann

A lady from the community of Aquia collects Polylepis stakes for propagation

So, to make sure that restoration projects achieve success in this decade of restoration and beyond, we need to focus our efforts on improving water resources, involve communities in the process from the very beginning, and make sure that benefits last well beyond the project termination.

A 15-year-old restoration site at 4000m ASL
T.Christmann

A 15-year-old restoration site at 4000m ASL

A fire prevention workshop led by ECOAN with community leaders from across the Vilcanota mountain range
T.Christmann

A fire prevention workshop led by ECOAN with community leaders from across the Vilcanota mountain range

The study was funded by the School of Geography and the Environment and Worcester College both at the University of Oxford, and also Rhodes Trust.

Read the paper in full in People & Nature: Sowing and harvesting water: revisiting forest restoration in the Peruvian Andes through a multi-stakeholder analysis. 

Find out more about Dr Tina Christmann.