The Cusco Region, located in the south-eastern part of Peru, has an area of 71,987 km2, which represents 5.6 percent of the national territory. It has thirteen (13) provinces, 112 districts and amongst those 87 native communities. The population is 1 369 932 inhabitants (INEI projection to 2021), with a growth rate of 1.3% and a population density of 18.3 people per km2.

The area of direct impact is the district of Machu Picchu, covering an area of 374,000 km2 (37,400 has), with an altitude of 2,078 meters above sea level, where the National Archaeological Park of Machu Picchu and the Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu are located.

This area is within the “Yungas” ecoregion, within a cloud forest,  a favorable environment enabling great biodiversity, especially of orchids (372 registered native species), ferns, bromeliads and heliconia.

Increasing natural threats and anthropic activities such as  landslides, floods “huaycos”, forest fires, vegetation degrading, such as cutting of trees for firewood, the extraction of shrub and herbaceous plants, result in Machu Picchu’s deforestation and degradation of ecosystems.

These threats can be summarized as:

600 Hectares deforested

2000 Hectares affected by forest fires

60% loss of water springs (aquifers)