Dear Friends and Family,
In about six weeks I am leaving for Cusco, Peru. I couldn't be happier to be going back! Take a look at the map to get a sense of where this is. It's high, it's dry, it's surrounded by gorgeous mountains. This is the same city I stayed in a few years ago, so I'm quite familiar with the city and the climate.
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I am relocating here because I have accepted a position with Nature Services Peru, as the new Project Coordinator. The organization describes their work as:
...dedicated to ecosystem management and the development of environmental credits. We specialize on social and environmental aspects of natural landscape management, with a view to reduce risks for both holders of natural assets and investors in ecosystem services markets. Through our work we help to sustain biodiversity and make a positive contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation. We work under partnership arrangements with indigenous communities, forest concessionaires and the State and in alliance with Servicios Ecosistémicos Perú (SePerú), a non-profit conservation organization focused on south-eastern Peru.
At Nature Services Peru we believe that better stewardship of natural landscapes is a precondition for sustained economic growth. Peru's natural capital and cultural diversity can serve as the basis of an environmental credit industry that generates much needed jobs and sustains Peru's natural heritage. We are working with partners from the finance, natural resource management, law and technology sectors, in order to innovate systems for creating value from natural assets.
To sum things up - I can't wait. To prepare, I am brushing up on knowledge of land tenure, the current state of extraction debates (legal, social, and environmental), environmental credits and compliance standards, and of course - studying Spanish and Quechua. Challenges await, but I feel invigorated and excited about the opportunity.
I will head down for the fall and will return over the holidays to move (dispose of) the rest of our belongings. In the New Year, Patrick will join me, along with our animals (I know I know, we're nuts) and we will officially relocate to Peru. Many dreams come true.
