SURVEY TRIP OF HUARANGO PROJECT TO NAZCA

Members of the expedition with “Ignacio” Oscar’s car which took them to Huarango forest

Nazca is an arid place in the Ica department of SW Peru, famous for the giant pictures in the sand. Close by are little rivers that flow from the high Andes and join to form the Rio Grande, which drains into the Pacific Ocean. One little valley is a Grupo Aves del Peru (GAP) Reserve. This place, the Poroma valley (300 ha), has an important amount of Huarango trees Prosopis pallida. It is still possible to see threatened endemic birds such as the Slender-billed Finch Xenospingus concolor and the Black-necked Woodpecker Colaptes atricollis. GAP has an agreement with Kew Botanical Gardens, England (www.kew.org) to manage this area. In December, an expedition led by Oscar Gonzalez (the Director of A Rocha Peru) surveyed the flora and fauna: biologists Mario Tenorio, Evelyn Perez (vertebrates) and Octavio Pecho (plants) from GAP-Ica, and Antonio Garcia (invertebrates) from A Rocha Peru. The team was able to prove the presence of key bird and mammals and assess the impact of disease and fuel-gathering on the forest. The local people are eager to support a reforestation programme which is being planned by A Rocha Peru.

Interviewing a local about the animals in the Huarango forest

A ROCHA PERU VOLUNTEER’S WORK ON ENVIRO-ART GALLERY

Paty en la exposición - Parque Kennedy

Our friend, A Rocha Peru volunteer Patty Galarza, is a prize-winning biologist and artist. A month ago she exhibited her work with other artists in Kennedy Park, Miraflores, Lima. Now the EnviroArt Gallery (an association of artists linked with A Rocha) is selling Patty’s paintings and so promoting her art worldwide. You can see pictures and Patty’s biography at

GALERIA DE ARTE

Matthias Stiefel – Chair of A Rocha International’s Trustees, in Peru

On 7 January some of A Rocha Peru’s national committee and team met with Matthias Stiefel of A Rocha International. He updated us on A Rocha’s activities around the world, answered the many questions and invited everyone to lunch.

Matthias directs Interpeace, working to resolve conflicts in countries that are affected by war such as Rwanda, Somalia, and the ex-Yugoslavian nations. He came to Peru the for the first time in 1984 and has known A Rocha since its foundation in Portugal.

Ps. Ramon Casana

Trujillo - La Libertad

WORKSHOP ON STEWARDSHIP OF CREATION IN TARAPOTO

In November 2007 we led a workshop on the Stewardship of Creation as part of Course VII of Personal Development of Park Rangers of INRENA (National Institute for Natural Resources) in the NE region (Tarapoto),. The guest speakers were Ramon Casana and Oscar Gonzalez and we are grateful to pastors Alex Sifuentes and Jose Delgado, of the C&MA church of Juanjui and Tarapoto, for their help with this event.

Oscar Gonzalez - Director Ejecutivo ARocha Perú

Festival Children`s - Carabayllo

Following an invitation from friends in Vida Plena we participated in an event for children from the slums of San Martin in Carbayllo, on the outskirts of Lima. We did a little workshop and led games in which they expressed their wish to participate in the care of nature, prevent pollution and improve their own conditions. Carbayllo is surrounded by new building developments and fields. The inhabitants survive by trading scavenged materials (plastics, steel, etc) in very unhygienic conditions and the children help their parents in these activities.

Oscar (Executive Director) and Rosmery (Mag. Education) directing the workshop