She’s getting to the root of deforestation to prevent the Amazon from drying up

To protect the Peruvian Amazon, forest engineer Tatiana Espinosa is getting to the root of the problem – illegal logging. “We win nothing by planting trees if more than 10 million hectares are lost every year in the natural forests of the world,” she says. “Those are simply irreplaceable.” As the General Director of Arbio Peru, a non-profit dedicated to defending the forest, Espinosa is saving the great trees of the Madre de Dios region.

“Trees are responsible for life on Earth as we know it,” Espinosa says. Forests produce moisture and rainfall and regulate the climate by removing carbon dioxide from the air, making them an essential shield against global warming. As water from the Atlantic Ocean gets recycled by the Amazon, the forest becomes the main source of water for the Andean glaciers and snow peaks. These giant sheets of ice supply water to most cities along the South American coast. Yet logging, coal mining, and timber extraction among others threaten this system. “The rainforest is drying up,” Espinosa says. “If we continue like this, in a few years the lives of millions of people will be affected.” 

Since Arbio Peru’s inception in 2010, Espinosa has been safeguarding 600 trees of the shihuahuaco species which can survive over 1 000 years in its habitat. “These trees need to be protected due to the current indiscriminate logging by the parquet flooring industry,” she says. Espinosa and her team study the shihauhauco trees to understand their age, life cycle, and ecology, and have identified around 300 that are in danger of logging. To further conservation efforts, Arbio Peru trains small-scale farmers and indigenous communities to restore the forest while earning a sustainable income as part of the International Analog Forestry Network.

“What doesn’t do good for the planet, doesn’t do good for us humans,” Espinosa says. As she preserves over 900 hectares of forest, her work is empowering people to prioritise the future of the Amazon. “We’re all connected and we all have a great responsibility,” she says. 

You can contribute to the work of Arbio Peru here. 

Footage by Arbio Peru was used in the creation of this film.