Three years ago, the entire nation commemorated the bicentennial of Peru’s independence. A little more than two hundred years after that event, the country continues to move forward and learn from its past mistakes.
Two hundred years is a very short time
However, two hundred years, although it sounds like a long time, is nothing for the life of an ancient tree. The natural forests of the Amazon have been evolving for periods unimaginable to us as humans. They are hubs of information, coexistence, and biodiversity that have adapted to work perfectly, just as they do today. Each individual with its specific task, each species fulfilling an irreplaceable role. As if it were a puzzle.
When Peru celebrated its independence from the Spanish kingdom, some trees from the Amazon Rainforest had already been here for many years.
Can you imagine that, in species like the Shihuahuaco, a 200-year-old tree is considered a juvenile specimen? Just a youngster compared to other specimens of the same species, which can reach more than a thousand years of life.
Can you imagine it?
A living being more than a thousand years old? What events must have occurred during its existence on this planet? Although there is still a lot to investigate in the ARBIO forest and hundreds of trees to measure, we can say that, to date, we have been able to verify that we have trees that are more than 1300 years old. Those are the Shihuahuacos.
What was happening in our country 1300 years ago? When this specimen was just a small sapling? And in the world?
Here, the Huari became the first empire in America, after dominating the Moche and influencing cultures such as the Nazca and Tiahuanaco. While in Europe, the king of the Franks, Charlemagne, was just born.
That tree has seen the founding of the first university in the world, the end of the Tang dynasty, and the first printing of a book so far dated. It has continued to grow while the Kingdom of England was founded, the arrival of the Vikings to North America, and the fall of Tiwanaku. It was a bit bigger during the arrival of Christopher Columbus to South America, the fall of the Inca empire, the Amazon rubber boom and many more events, impossible to name them all.
This tree has been around during the lifetime of our great-great-grandparents, and many generations back, and hopefully it will also be standing during the lifetime of our children and grandchildren. This giant of the forest is the pillar of the Amazon ecosystem, it also stores large amounts of carbon and provides oxygen and water to all species on this planet. It fulfills a very important role in the Amazon and the entire world.
Three years after the bicentennial
Therefore, three years after the bicentennial, we want to not only continue celebrating our country, but also celebrate those important pieces of the puzzle that make Peru such a rich, biodiverse, and full of life country. Pieces that have been here much longer than we can imagine.
Just as we are proud of many qualities in our country, we should be proud of having species like the Shihuahuaco. It is urgent to give value to the living tree instead of continuing to cut down ancient trees for the prices of their hard wood.