Community reforestation – Laura Vicuña Shrine CIL

Santiago (Chile). On 8 June 2024, as part of the celebrations for the 130 years of the municipality of Renca, the “Great mass reforestation” took place, an activity that brought together more than 2,000 people on Cerro Colorado, part of the Metropolitan Park Cerro di Renca, where there is the Shrine dedicated to Blessed Laura Vicuña, in the Province of St. Gabriel Archangel (CIL).

During the day, organized in collaboration between the Municipality of Renca, the CCU Society, the Cultiva Corporation, and the Blessed Laura Vicuña Foundation, took place the planting of more than 2,000 native trees:  molles, pimientos, and diucas, with the goal of absorbing 78 tons of CO2 emissions per year and offering a new green lung to Santiago.

Mayor Claudio Castro, together with Environment Minister, Maisa Rojas, and Governor Claudio Orrego, oversaw the reforestation of a sector hit by arson last summer. Minister Rojas highlighted the initiative in the context of Chile’s commitments to tackle climate change at the international level. In addition, representatives of the “district councils” planted 130 trees to symbolize the 130 years of the Municipality of Renca.

“We are happy with this new community reforestation, with hundreds of local people from different parts of the city who came to plant 2,130 trees on the slopes of Cerro Colorado, at the foot of the Shrine of Laura Vicuña, in response to the emergency of transformation and environmental justice.

We want the hills of Renca to become a park for our community, a park for the whole city of Santiago, that in the Shrine of Laura Vicuña has a pearl, a hidden treasure that we want to invite you to come and enjoy and share with your family. It is wonderful. It is an extraordinary view, an experience within the city of Santiago of detachment, reflection, connection with nature that should not be missed,” affirmed Mayor Castro.

This reforestation is part of the already launched Renca Climate Change Plan, which aims at the economic, social, urban, and environmental transformation of the municipality, transforming the Cerro Colorado into a part of the high-level Metropolitan Park, with accesses, paths, squares, and a panoramic point at the summit.

The Bl. Laura Vicuña Foundation, through Sister Marianela Sánchez, executive director and Animator of the FMA community that animates the Laura Vicuña Shrine, promoted this environmental proposal and invited the community to be a protagonist of ecological change in Renca.

Photos: Flickr FMA Chile