By: Pablo Friedlander and Romina Torre
Dr. Pablo Friedlander, Director of Acción Serrana has initiated and led pioneering restoration and intercultural education projects in Argentina, Brazil and Spain for more than two decades. He also organizes ethnobotanical research and expeditions to the Amazon and the Andes. pablofriedlander@gmail.com
Biologist Romina Torre is the executive coordinator of Acción Serrana, with ten years of experience in mountain restoration, research and educational activities involving rural communities, health practitioners and scientific institutions at bioregional and international levels. torre.romina@gmail.com
Introduction to the Polylepis forests
In the highest mountains of South America, remnants of vast stands of so-called cloud forests dominated by members of the beautiful Rose-family genus Polylepis are found throughout the Andes Cordillera, from Colombia and Venezuela to northern Chile and northwestern Argentina. In addition, in the much older Sierras Grandes de Córdoba, in central Argentina, the endemic Polylepis australis (locally known as Tabaquillo), occurs in scattered fragments of once extensive mid-altitude forests. At the continental scale, the canopies of these open, moist formations, or what remains of them today, comprise 45 recognized species and constitute the highest altitude forests on Earth (Boza Espinoza & Kessler 2022). Sadly, their range and integrity has been drastically reduced by logging, burning, and overgrazing since the 16th century, especially with the introduction of European cattle.Their moss- and lichen-covered branches collect fog, while their roots prevent erosion and regulate water runoff. These forests also contribute to climate change mitigation, by favoring carbon sequestration, and they support diverse endangered species dependent on these habitats. In all seven of the Andean countries where they occur, the restoration and conservation of these cloud forests is of vital importance to local communities and to protect. the headwaters of the main rivers and creeks (del Campo & Friedländer 2023).
The hand-shaped Polylepis leaves and the soft, multi-layered bark of the trees, draped with epiphytes, mosses and lichens, collect fog and give rise to the compelling and accurate image of the forest “milking” the omnipresent mist and clouds. At a continental scale, these cloud forests when they are healthy and thriving contribute to the ‘biotic pump’ connecting the Andes- the Amazon-and the Atlantic Forest biomes (Beveridge et al. 2024) and regulating water and climate cycles and reducing the risk and severitry of wildfires. The savannas and cloud forests The recent increase of forest fires in all biomes of South – and Meso- and North America – demands more strategic and intercultural, public-private coalitions to increase restoration areas and protection of basins at multiple spatial scales for present and future generations (Argañaraz et al. 2015; Argibay & Renison 2018). Additionally, Polylepis roots and their mutualistic microorganisms retain and enrich soils. They also provide a ‘framework’ for regenerating forest communities undergoing active or assisted restoration. Indeed, when mature, these emblematic forests harbour very high biodiversity, including many endemic species of epiphytic orchids, insects, birds and reptiles, and also provide a wide range of ecosystem services to people at multiple spatial scales. Finally, they have huge cultural significance, and by working in synergy with local communities we aim to introduce and sustain biocultural as well as ecological restoration.
Conserving and Restoring the cloud forests with Acción Serrana and Acción Andina
In 2002, the project “Milking the Clouds” (Ordeñando Nubes, in Spanish) was launched, along with other local grassroots initiatives. Then, after a long learning curve in restoration methods and typical pioneering struggles, the five interrelated projects gradually scaled up their ‘footprint’ and their impact to a bioregional level over the next decade and a half. A big step was taken in 2018 when, together with the ECOAN (Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos) and Global Forest Generation, Acción Serrana was set up as a hub including 5 different local organizations to help in the launching of “Acción Andina” as a a new international ecocultural restoration consortium. In that context, Acción Serrana is now managed by the Fundación de Actividades Biosféricas as part of Acción Andina.
Currently working in Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina, with 23 member institutions, Acción Andina partners have planted more than 7 million Polylepis trees, of many different species, and this number is rising each year, as is the success rate of the plantings. In 2023, Accion Andina received the prestigious Earthshot Prize, and in 2024 we were named one of the 7 UN World Restoration Flagships for the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030.
The 12 biocultural restoration areas in the Sierras Grandes of Córdoba under Acción Serrana management add up, at the time of writing, to a total of 3,170 fenced hectares.
The reforestation and restoration campaigns are made possible by 65 permanent staff members and over 1,500 volunteers per year on average. To date, we have produced and planted more than 860, 000 Polylepis australis nursery-grown saplings in consecutive seasons (see https://ecohealthglobal.org/network-sites/accion-serrana-argentina/). All of these trees were grown from seeds collected locally in each of the planting areas managed by the five different partnering organizations or local implementing groups For the 2024-2025 October 2024 to March 2025 planting season, 250,000 trees were propagated in the 29 plant nurseries we maintain, and at the time of writing most of the plantings have been very successful. Since 2023, Accion Serrana has been helping to replicate the same initiative in Northwestern Argentina, with the Project Arbol y Vida in Jujuy Province (in cooperation with various high-Andean communities) and the Germinar Project in Tucuman Province (working with Diaguita communities of the Tafi del Valle bioregion), advising on and synergizing actions and application of techniques and strategies. In addition to this biocultural restoration, another critical line of work is our environmental education program being run in local schools and municipalities for more than a decade already.
The ecosystems of Acción Serrana are Sub-Andean and Chaco serrano forests and grasslands (sensu Cabrera 1976), composed of seasonally dry forests or open woodlands with 4 different altitudinal belts in the central Argentina mountain ranges, Sierras Grandes de Córdoba (Giorgis et al. 2011). The land tenure of the areas under restoration inside the Provincial Watershed Reserve of Pampa de Achala, which consists of private landholdings subject to Provincial Management & Conservation plans, or public protected áreas within the National Park Quebrada del Condorito. The numerous activities we carry out include: maintenance and fencing of new areas, native forest tree and shrub seed collection, construction and improvements of nurseries, germination of seedlings, transplanting of seedlings to reusable plastic forest tubes, high mountain transfer of seedlings to the planting areas and their planting in the intervention areas during the rainy season. We establish permanent plots for scientific monitoring and we support research carried out in the intervention areas. Workshops, public talks and training programs are also organized yearly to train and recruit more enthusiastic and qualified citizen restorationists for the work in the mountains.
Implementation of Acción Serrana with local partners in reciprocity
We work to generate ecological, economic, social and cultural sustainability by reaching agreements with landowners, communities, networks and institutions (municipalities of Mina Clavero and Villa de Las Rosas, the Ministry of Education of the Province of Córdoba, and others).
To help with the local matching needed to be part of the Acción Andina initiative, Acción Serrana had set up the Ayni Plan (“ayni” meaning “reciprocity” in the quechua language of the Andes). Basically this implies the commitment to generate 30% of operating costs through specific fundraising campaigns and by other quantified means. For example the constant one of inviting the public to participate by donations of the costs required for producing a forest (25 trees under monitoring), a tree or a volunteering activity. Then we promote the reception of donations of funds, lands, tools, materials, vehicles, etc.. In addition, we encourage ecotourism with a schedule for each area: summer plantations and seeds, winter transplanting of seedlings and fencing of restoration areas. Acción Serrana aims to increase reciprocity and abundance also throughout the different courses and events both virtual and in-person, and some special community parties, with raffles, concerts, talks, video screenings, and promotion of crowdfunding campaigns. Currently we are running our international matching crowdfunder campaign with the help of the Treeangle Foundation from the United Kingdom, as we have done each year from 2012, to complete the mission of this season January 2024 – March 2025. (See video here.)
In the years ahead, Acción Serrana will propagate and plant a wider variety of native trees and shrubs in pursuit of a Framework species approach to restoration such as that being tested by EHN partner Daniel Perez and his team in Caviahue, Patagonia (Perez et al. 2019; see also here and (here). As a new initiative, we aim to deploy 30% of funds raised to reintroduction of multipurpose Neltuma (formerly Prosopis) species and other framework species in lower altitudes of the mountain system, and 70% to ongoing Polylepis restoration in the high mountains. This year, we have begun studying how to propagate the obvious additional choices of “framework species” namely Maiten (Maytenus boaria), Escalonia (Escallonia cordobensis) and Molle (Lithraea molleoides).
Next steps
Following decades of reforestation and cloud forest restoration, we are working with Indigenous inhabitants in these mountains, including the Comechingones (Henia and Camiare tribes) and Sanavirones peoples, who have been historically marginalized. We are cultivating intercultural bridges (Rojas et al. 2025) in áreas like nursery propagation, environmental education, and llama and alpaca reintroduction and ancestral practices of weaving with camelid wool. This collaborative framework aims to integrate and restore key zones around the Ansenuza Sea, Traslasierra Valley, Pampa Achala, and Pampa de Pocho.
In January 2025, Acción Serrana became a new member hub of the Ecological Health Network, following two fruitful visits from James Aronson. These visits facilitated knowledge sharing and collaboration, furthering our core purpose of scaling up watershed restoration, enhancing environmental education, and deepening intercultural collaboration for research projects. By integrating ecological, social, and economic perspectives and approaches, we aim to share our regenerative experiences across mountains, jungles, deserts and oceans within a quickly growing international network of networks. We are delighted to be part of this movement and consortium with a strong, clear set of values and shared purpose – something we all need to cultivate in these critical times. As a meaningful next step of Acción Serrana, we look forward to participating in multi-site research projects based on the simultaneous monitoring and evaluation of a series of ecological and human health indicators in areas undergoing biocultural restoration protocols. Through these efforts, we are committed to enhancing ecosystem health and strengthening our relationship with nature, ensuring the longevity and health of Andean cloud forests and lower buffer zones of Chaco serrano forests -as well as the local communities living there for generations to come.
Learn more by watching these videos on Acción Serrana and the Biodiversity in Sierras Grandes de Córdoba.
All images are from the archives of Acción Serrana.