Over 1.1 Million Native Trees Under Restoration in the High-Andes: Wildlife Already Returning

Project Highlights 

• 11 projects across Peru and Ecuador, led by Acción Andina in partnership with the Priceless Planet Coalition, supported by Mastercard, World Resources Institute, Conservation International, and over 150 corporate partners.
• 155,000 native Polylepis trees planted at the Aquia landscape in Peru during the January-March 2026 planting season. 124,000 of those trees are expected to be “restored” after 5 years of monitoring, helping reconnect high-altitude habitat critical for endemic Andean wildlife.
• 21 individual Andean bears identified within restored corridors at Q’ero, Peru, including three mothers with cubs — confirming active nursery habitat.
• Stable populations of two critically endangered endemic bird species, the Royal Cinclodes and the White-browed Tit-Spinetail, documented breeding within restoration corridors that reconnect fragmented Polylepis forest habitat.
• Female-majority participation in maintenance and monitoring activities across Cajamarca, Peru and Pichincha, Ecuador, with women leading patrols, biodiversity surveys, and seedling care.

Acción Andina has planted 1,528,969 native trees across 11 projects in Peru and Ecuador in 2024 and 2025 with the support of the Priceless Planet Coalition. After five years of rigorous monitoring and maintenance, 1,114,471 of those trees are expected to be restored (meaning 80% survive). Behind this restoration win is a network of grassroots partners on the ground, united under Acción Andina and led by Global Forest Generation and ECOAN, bringing together Indigenous and local communities, scientific expertise, and dedicated funding. The impacts on biodiversity have been remarkable, with Andean bears raising cubs and endangered bird species breeding in restored forests. High-Andean Polylepis ecosystems are among the most threatened and ecologically vital in the world, and these results offer powerful evidence that restoring them supports the livelihoods of all who depend on them.

Indigenous and local community leadership is what makes restoration a success. The same communities who have stewarded the forests for generations are now bringing them back to life. It is their ancestral knowledge, combined with modern ecological science, that shapes every aspect of the work. This season, women played a particularly central role, leading patrols, seedling maintenance, and biodiversity surveys across the Cajamarca and Pichincha landscapes. As primary managers of local water resources and keepers of traditional botanical knowledge, their investment in this restoration runs deep. Their role has been essential in monitoring ecosystem recovery and protecting restoration sites.

Spanning 11 projects in Peru and Ecuador, Acción Andina has enabled community-led conservation at a landscape scale, from ECOAN’s intensive planting operations in the Aquia landscape, to Conservación Amazónica‘s wildlife monitoring program in Q’ero, where 21 individual Andean bears have now been identified within restored corridors. Using strategically placed camera traps, researchers identified individual bears through their unique “spectacle” facial markings and documented three mothers with cubs, indicating that restored Polylepis and montane forests are functioning as critical nursery habitat.

As this planting season comes to a close, Acción Andina remains committed to building on these gains through continued stewardship and monitoring in the seasons ahead. Acción Andina partners are co-designing biodiversity surveys with Indigenous leaders, while community park guards protect young seedlings from logging and grazing. This is stewardship as Acción Andina has always practiced it: not a project with a defined end date, but a living commitment by communities to the forests, water sources, and wildlife they have always known best.