Decades of illegal cultivation have stripped forests and degraded soil in Peru’s largest coca-producing region. In response, the Peruvian government has planted nearly 1,300 hectares of bamboo as a legal, ecologically restorative alternative crop, with one farm attracting over 50 squirrel monkeys and dozens of bird species to what was once barren land. However, the benefits only hold when plantations connect to larger forest corridors, which is a hard sell to farmers dependent on coca’s year-round income.
Posted: May 1, 2026