CHAMPION OF THE EARTH
🌎🌱 For his efforts, Constantino Aucca has been named Champion of the Earth in the Inspiration and Action category, the United Nations’ highest environmental award. Constantino Aucca has dedicated the last 30 years to conservation and leads local communities in an effort to protect forests in South America, which are critical to combating climate change and are home to unique species of plants and animals.
CONSTANTINO AUCCA CHUTAS - INSPIRATION AND ACTION
Constantino Aucca Chutas’s interest in conservation began more than three decades ago with the fieldwork he did as a biology student in Cusco, Peru.At the time, the breath-taking slopes of the Peruvian Andes that surrounded the city were under pressure from annual fires, illegal logging and expanding farms.“Conservation became a necessity,” Aucca said recently during an interview with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). His calling to defend nature grew stronger at the urging of his grandparents, indigenous Quechua farmers. “They told me, look, your name is Aucca, it means warrior. Please try to do something for us farmers.”Aucca has spent the past 30 years honoring that request and is leading local communities in a push to protect forests across South America, which are critical for fighting climate change and home to unique plant and animal species.The Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN), which Aucca founded in 2000, has planted more than 3 million trees in Peru and protected or restored 30,000 hectares of land.For his efforts, Aucca has been named a Champion of the Earth for Inspiration and Action, the United Nations’ highest environmental awards.Latin America and the Caribbean contain some of the world’s most biodiverse forest ecosystems, yet more than 40 per cent of the region’s forests have been cleared or degraded to make way for mining, agricultural and infrastructure projects.Aucca’s community-led conservation has helped indigenous communities, a traditionally marginalized group, to secure legal rights to their land and establish protected areas for their native forests.“Constantino Aucca Chutas’s pioneering work reminds us that indigenous communities are at the forefront of conservation,” said Inger Andersen, Executive Director of UNEP. “As some of the best custodians of the natural world, their contributions to ecosystem restoration are invaluable and cannot come at a more urgent time for the planet.”
water scarcity, affecting the lives and livelihoods of millions of people.To ensure the survival of future generations of indigenous farmers, Aucca’s association organizes tree-planting festivals in Cusco every year. The day begins with ancestral rituals derived from the region’s rich Incan heritage. Musicians blow conch shells and beat drums in honor of nature as villagers make their way up steep mountain trails to plant trees, some carrying bundles of seedlings on their backs – others, babies.“When we plant a tree, we give something back to Mother Earth. We are convinced that the more trees we plant, the more people will be happy. It’s a celebration, a day of happiness,” Aucca said.
