In the middle of the desert landscape of the coast of Peru and its neighbor Chile, the Lomas stand out as islands of vegetation. With many endemic species, the ecosystem resists aridity by capturing the cold maritime humidity of the Pacific Ocean that enters the continent, the garúa. The millenary relationship between vegetation and ocean humidity ensured the safety of the water in the surroundings, especially in large cities. With the destruction of hills for pasture, agriculture, and mining, desertification has increased severely in recent decades. The Red de Lomas del Peru (Peru’s Lomas network) is a non-profit citizen association that centralizes the activities of other social groups, with the objective of conserving these coastal hills in Peru. Although its activities are concentrated in Lima, a megalopolis of 8.5 million inhabitants, the network articulates actions at the national level. The entry of water from the Garúa due to the presence of hills in the vicinity of the urban territory promotes local environmental improvements in the quality of air, rivers and groundwater.
At the same time that the hills are ecosystems sensitive to climate change, especially to changes in the duration and intensity of the El Niño phenomenon, they act in the water management of the local climate in the midst of complex processes of desertification. Thus, the activities of the Red de Lomas del Peru have ensured the lomas as conservation areas, and have sought to restore previously degraded areas. This is more present in the city of Lima, which has a history marked by water scarcity and water supply problems for its inhabitants.
The main objective of the network is to build sustainable communities through the conservation, protection, management and improvement of the ecosystems of the Peruvian lomero. In their vision, they want to be a network of reference and recognized as a generator of awareness and environmental responsibility for their capacity for action and proposals for the protection and defense of the hills and their sustainable management by citizens, communities, social organizations, the State and private companies. Behind these activities are three values: commitment to the environment, especially the hills; solidarity with environmental defenders; and the culture of caring for the community. For years, different associations have faced environmental conflicts such as land invasions and informal mining to ensure the protection of the lomas ecosystem throughout Peru. The Red de Lomas del Peru arises in 2018 from the need to articulate these parties into a unit that can have a greater presence in the nation, exchange experiences and collaborate with each other, in order to have a greater involvement with government authorities. In addition to giving voice to the members of the network and their allies, the network has also listened to governmental and scientific institutions, and to civil society as a whole.
Today, many of those involved in the activities of the Red de Lomas del Peru were, or still are, linked to the associations that make up the network. The president of the Asociación Ecológica Lomas de Primavera (Lomas de Primavera Ecological Association) in Carabaylo, Ascencio Vásquez, is president of the Network. Vicepresident Yovita Barzola acts as President of the Asociación Ecoturística Lomas de Mangomarca (Lomas de Mangomarca Ecotourism Association). The same occurs with other members such as: Gerónimo Huayhua, former president and current member of the “Circuito Ecoturístico Lomas de Paraíso” (Lomas de Paraíso Ecotourism Circuit) in Villa María del Triunfo; Trinidad Pérez, member of the association “Protectores Ambientales de la Flor y Lomas de Amancaes (PAFLA)” (Environmental Protectors of the Flower and Hills of Amancaes)” in the district of Rímac; Jorman Cabello, president of “Haz Tu Mundo Verde”; Yrma Peralta, president of the “Apu Ikiri Warmi Association”; Julieta de la Torre, leader of the “Comunidad Campesina de Atiquipa” (“Atiquipa Peasant
Community”).
With the communication facilities of the digital age, the initiative to organize networks of knowledge and actions is easily replicable. More than the sum of the strengths of the associations already formed, the networks allow a greater scope of activities and a new organizational identity that encompasses new challenges and new objectives.
Thanks to these joint efforts, they have already managed to make important decisions for the conservation of hills legitimized by documents, such as: the declaration of hills as fragile ecosystems, in 2018; Supreme Decree 011-2019-MINAM establishing the Regional Conservation Area “Sistema Lomas de Lima”, in December 2019; Supreme Decree 007-2020-MINAGRI, which establishes the “Inter-institutional Protocol to protect fragile ecosystems” and allows action against illegal and informal activities in the hills, in August 2020.