In the early hours of the morning, a silent procession breaks the gray monotony of the Santa Rosa hill, north of Lima. A group of citizens advances with shovels, pickaxes and bags of earth, led by a thirty-two year old with a straw hat and a smartphone always on. He is Jean Carlos Torres, known on the web as El chico de las plantas, or “The Boy of the Plants”, an eco-digital influencer who has 534 thousand followers on TikTok and over 350 thousand on Instagram.
Its mission is titanic: to bring life where it has never existed, transforming the barren slopes of the Peruvian capital through the creation of new plant ecosystems, a process radically different from simple reforestation. Lima is the second largest desert metropolis in the world after Cairo, and its ten million inhabitants have just 2.76 square meters of greenery each, well below the nine recommended by the WHO.
Native species and hydrogel against soil aridity
The project is based on rigorous scientific planning entrusted for six months to Daudet Ramos, an expert in agribusiness and environmental engineering. The soil is prepared, fertilized and watered fifteen days before planting. To ensure the survival of the vegetation in such a hostile context, only native drought-resistant species are selected.
The secret to their rooting lies in a strategic alliance between engineering and recycling: a drip irrigation system made from reused bottles and the integration of hydrogel into the soil. These semi-transparent spheres retain water, slowly releasing it to the roots, eliminating the mortality of plants on the sandy walls.
Social commitment to fight the privilege of the shadow
Torres’ inner drive has its roots in his childhood spent in the concrete of Callao, helping his mother who has been selling plants for 26 years. After abandoning a managerial job in a carpet company, the young man understood that shade in Lima represents an intolerable class privilege, since parks abound in wealthy neighborhoods like San Isidro but disappear in suburbs like San Juan de Miraflores.
To undermine this injustice, Torres founded Regen Perú, an organization supported by micro-donations and regenerative finance, capable of planting around 600 trees in two years. However, action on the field only takes place if residents guarantee collective care: for every 50 shrubs, at least five managers are needed. It is women like Casilda and Nancy who man the water pipes every day, protecting the leaves from dust to give their children a green future.
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