Climate Change is the most significant challenge of our era, accelerating at an unprecedented rate. In order to keep up with this threat and avoid -among many other calamities- the disappearances of over one million species, we require innovation, commitment and the application of solutions under a systemic approach. And quickly. The planetary boundaries have been reached. Thankfully, the world’s youngest generation is joining the cadres of the climate change fighters proposing new innovative policies and novel technologies.
Youth an innovation is a breath of fresh air in Villa María del Triunfo. There, right in the middle of Lima, one of the cities with the worst air quality in Latin-America, a group of young environmental defenders and innovators are standing up to the challenge of protecting a unique ecosystem: The Fog-Oases.
In order to meet these young innovators, we climbed the hills of the barrios surrounding the city of Lima. After a few minutes, the air changes. Everything is green, and the fog makes takes us away from the dust and atmospheric dryness of Peru’s polluted capital. Here, we breath clean air. We are in Lomas de Paraíso (Paradise Fog-Oasis).
The Fog-oases are unique ecosystem that expands from northern Chile to northern Perú. They are only noticeable in winter, when the greenery appears in the hills circumventing Lima thanks to fog ascending from the Pacific Ocean. And the unique Lomas de Paraíso are part of the Regional Conservation Area “Fog-oases System of Lima”, approved this year after the joint effort of environmental advocacy organizations and neighboring communities. This is the first area in Peru’s capital that will protect the biodiversity of 13,500 hectares comprising five key fog-oases in Lima.
Urban ecosystems plays a key role in air, water and in overall quality of life in any city. From Manila’s mangroves, to Washington D.C´s wetlands, from Mexico City forests to Lima’s Fog-oases, their essential value is undeniable. The Lima’s Fog-oases clean up the air, capture carbon dioxide and recharge aquifers. However, as it occurs with many natural systems in Latin-America, oases are threatened by illegal land trafficking, informal mining and agriculture. Approximately, 50 percent of fog oases have been lost in the last 40 years.
PNUD in Lima and Esan University recently launched the Fog-Oases Challenge, with the intention of spurring innovative, simple and scalable solutions to stop the disappearance of these key oases. This challenge is leveraged with the efforts of the Eba Lomas project harnessing the power of local social organizations. The effort is a result of cooperation between the Peruvian Natural protected Areas service; the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment and UNDP.
Over 21 teams of young professionals gathered during three collaborative sessions which included Microsoft and the Peruvian Geographers Association at the Esan University Fablab. These teams worked side by side with the Villa Maria Fog-Oaeses Defenders Association to find technical solutions for protecting this fragile ecosystem.
Since a while ago, The Villa Maria Fog Oases Defenders Association struggles to lighten the weight of manual work and irrigation measures in their Fog-Oasis and now thanks to Focux Aiot, the team conformed by Diana Tapia, Elio Revilla, Dennis Zárate, William Figueroa y Fred River winners of the Challenge, we are most pleased to envision that a positive change is approaching. “Every weekend we work hard to bring water to each and every tree that we have planted. But thanks to these young lads, this is changing..”, — states Noé Neíra, President of the Association.
The innovation proposed by the winning team included local actors in the development of a tailored, simple and cheap solution. It consists in an integrated remote water management system that allows an easy operation of fog-catchers, valves and reservoirs. The system, using machine learning, can predict future flows and levels, saving even more manual labor to the Association which has taken upon itself the huge task of protecting Lima’s Fog-Oases.
From Montevideo to Mexico City, every Latin-American capital faces enormous environmental challenges, among them the access to green areas and the right to breath a clean air. This is why it is necessary to protect ecosystems that sustain our cities. This challenge must be tackled using a systemic approach, with multiple actors, opening spaces for innovation in both the technical and political arenas. Focux Aiot, the winning team of the Fog Oases Challenge, innovated a solution that is scalable and that can easily be reproduced. More importantly, their novel solution is a model example demonstrating how collaboration between traditional institutions and social organizations can harness the power of the young to empower vulnerable populations. The challenge we now face in light of climate change is to cocreate find adequate solutions. This involves creating discussion networks, collaborating with imaginative ideas among institutions and the civil society to induce sustainable policies and practices to clean our water, purify air and protect our environment.
