The Advocate

Machu Picchu at the forefront in the fight for climate change

Peru

By Peru

After reopening to the public from the mandatory closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Machu Picchu is now getting ready to become the world's first carbon-neutral tourist destination. It is an important environmental certification granted by the global organization Green Initiative, which will place the historic sanctuary as a world leader committed to actions against climate change.

This would be achieved in two ways: one is by buying carbon offsets from countries that have emitted less greenhouse gases than their quota; the other is compensating with actions that capture the emission generated with the planting of trees or the reuse of solid waste. "The process will take around five months to start and thereafter, through carbon credits, it will proceed to compensate and allow to obtain the certificate of neutrality," says Renzo Paino, representative of the Green Initiative.

Since 2017, the Municipality of Machu Picchu implemented together with private companies, a series of measures to promote the mitigation of the carbon footprint. The aim is to reduce the impact that human activity leaves on the environment and, in this way, gradually and responsibly reactivate tourism.

Note:

Machu Picchu reopened its doors to tourism on November 1. It is estimated that for the next two years, about a million and a half tourists from Peru and the world will visit this wonder of the modern world.