Lima with its approx. 10 million inhabitants is the world’s second largest desert city. And while the richer districts try to outdo each other with lovely parks and green areas, most of the Peruvian capital, especially the poorer areas on the outskirts, consists of lots of concrete, shantytowns and dry and dusty wasteland– green spaces don’t exist or are poorly maintained.
Since 2015 the initiative “Planta un arból, nace un vida” (Plant a tree and a life is born) tries to change that and with private and public support plants trees across the Peruvian capital to make the city and here especially forgotten areas greener and more livable.
So far, more than 350,000 native trees that use little water were planted in the Peruvian capital and last week 500 new ones were added in Villa el Salvador, one of the largest districts of Lima in the south.
The ambitious goal of the initiative is to have planted 1 million trees by the end of 2018.