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For more than 30 years, Constantino Aucca Chutas has dedicated his life to preserving the ecosystems of the Peruvian Andes. In a special half hour show, CNN’s Call to Earth visits Aucca Chutas in his hometown of Cusco for a journey retracing his roots and introducing the local community leaders who are integral to his project’s success.

Under the leadership of the Peruvian biologist and Rolex Laureate, indigenous and local communities mobilise by the thousands each year to plant Polylepis trees, a shrub unique to the high Andes ecosystem and crucial for the Andean water cycle. These efforts have contributed to the restoration of thousands of hectares affected by climate change and human activity.

Aucca Chutas is a proud descendant of the Inca, and as the co-founder of Acción Andina – a community-led forest restoration initiative – that heritage is his greatest inspiration, "The first time when we were all united along all the Andes was when we were part of one empire, the Inca empire. The second time we united again for our independence. This is the third time. United for what? For one tree – the Polylepis tree. And all together we are going to work reforesting and protecting all the main watersheds."

Polylepis are the highest-altitude tree in the world, with some species able to grow at 5,000 metres above sea level. Polylepis forests are also a haven for wildlife, such as the endangered Andean condor, the puma, and the spectacled bear. They store carbon and help prevent soil erosion and flooding. Aucca Chutas explains, "But the best! This tree was planted in a hole and the hole is going to be catching the water that is going to come during the raining season. To fill a hole like this, it’s like four litres of water that has to be captured in here."

Polylepis trees once covered large areas of the high Andes, but recent decades of deforestation for livestock grazing, logging, firewood, mining, and roads, have decimated the ecosystem. Making the issue worse, Aucca Chutas says, is that the rainy season has become less rainy, "Two years ago we have for three months dry days, no rain, no humidity, and of course people started to cry. Because the crops of potatoes collapsed. The animals started to die. And painfully most of the elders said, probably we are doing something bad is the reason why the mother earth is angry and is not permitting us to see more snow, more rain and everything’s disappearing and dying."

Aucca Chutas, who was recognised as a 2023 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureate, has expanded the initiative to other Andean countries, which has been instrumental in planting millions of trees. His successful leadership is attributed to collaborating with indigenous communities, drawing from their ancestral knowledge and improving environmental management practices. He says of the project, "We want to plant a hundred million trees. Oh, that’s a lot, yeah? But, it’s not impossible."

CNN follows Aucca Chutas as he heads to the village of Chupani, for an annual celebration that symbolises both his and the local community’s determination to restore these habitats. The ‘Queuña Raymi’ or ‘Festival of the Polylepis tree’ unofficially began in 2014, inspired by the UN Climate Change Conference taking place in Lima that year, "After attending to one COP meeting in Lima, we didn’t see any results. We come back, said, okay, let’s send a message. And the message was we planted 57,000 Polylepis trees in a single day."

Annette Luna, Chief Operating Officer at Acción Andina, talks about the importance of their work, "For me, as a woman, this project is very special because women in general have had a challenge and sometimes, they had not had this opportunity to give, have a voice, to be part of everything. With our programs, we’re trying to bring that to their communities. If you see our reforestation, everybody works together. There is no difference between men and women."

Every year the festival and planting event takes place during rainy season, seeing more than 20,000 trees planted in one day. A simple, yet forward-thinking action rooted in ancient wisdom, that Accua Chutas believes should always be a part of conservation efforts, "We think that with this new knowledge, the knowledge of the city, the modern life is the main solution for everything. No, I spent many times talking with the elders and chew cocoa leaves and learning more and more. They tell me stories about the mountains, about the rivers, about everything. All my background comes from all this. I highly recommend it, read about your history and be proud of your history."