Tree care and planting should not be part of a government obligation or regulation, it should be a natural initiative for us. However, over the past decades, from our grandparents, parents, and now from us, as witnesses, population growth and the “boom” of construction have been replaced by “Modern Lima” leaving aside space for afforestation and its conservation.
San Juan de Lurigancho, located to the northeast of the city, is the largest and most populous area with over a million inhabitants; There is one of the lungs Lima Gray tries to breathe through: the Forest with water boxes.
How did the forest of Caja de Agua come about?
Located along Proceres Avenue to the intersection with San Martin Avenue. Water box Forest Initially, its area was 56,000 m2, today it has shrunk to just over 28,000 m2. It was part of a reforestation program in the Rimak River basin in the 1950s, so after doing several soil surveys, it was decided that the area was suitable for a nursery.
According to the archaeologist Julio Abanto Llaquethere was no forest in this area in the colonial reference books, only in 1958 it appears on the map of the Military Geographic Institute, where the delimitation of the original space of the forest nursery is traced.
What is its importance?
Planting and preserving trees produce oxygen and filter radiation. In addition, tree leaves can absorb pollutants, purifying the air we breathe. According to scientific estimates, each hectare can provide 2 to 6 tons of oxygen per day and hold the equivalent of 2.5 tons of CO2.
The WHO (World Health Organization) recommends 12 to 15 m² of green space per inhabitant, and with over a million inhabitants living in the San Juan de Lurigancho area alone, the city owes a great debt to mother nature. Water box ForestThe lungs of San Juan de Lurigancho are also a habitat for migratory birds that seek refuge among various tree species such as eucalyptus, palm, ficus and others.
Difficulties and struggles to preserve it
In recent decades, due to the growth of urbanization Water box Forest is losing ground between the construction of houses, a school and a parking lot for the Wholesale Market. One of the latest challenges he faced was when the Ministry of Housing, Building and Sanitation, the current administrator of the space, proposed in 2021 to the Shipibo-Konibo community to build 138 houses of 15,000 m² on 28,000 m² of Water Forest. Box; however, due to complaints and the actions of neighbors, the execution was stopped.
Water box Forest it is just a small green space that survives in front of the monster of gray and modern Lima that continues to grow, it is a space that seeks to generate environmental education and environmental awareness. Lima is a city that demands tree planting, not destruction.
Source: RPP
I am Dylan Hudson, a dedicated and experienced journalist in the news industry. I have been working for Buna Times, as an author since 2018. My expertise lies in covering sports sections of the website and providing readers with reliable information on current sporting events.