The strategic alliance comprised by Inkaterra, AJE Group, the Machu Picchu Town Hall, and the Natural Area and National Park Service (SERNANP), voiced its commitment to turn Machu Picchu into the first Carbon Neutral Wonder of the World and the first international travel destination to achieve a carbon neutrality certification.

Throughout the following four months, Green Initiative Enterprise will monitor all necessary requirements to certify Machu Picchu as carbon neutral. This commitment aims to reduce carbon emissions in 45% towards the years 2030, and achieve zero emissions (carbon neutrality) by 2050, according to the United Nations Paris Agreement.

The alliance surfaced due to a waste management crisis in Machu Picchu, for which in 2016 UNESCO warned the inclusion of the Inca citadel in its Patrimony at Risk list. First, Inkaterra and AJE Group donated a plastic compacting machine to process seven tons of plastic waste in a daily basis. The partnership followed this successful measure with the donation of a bio-Diesel and eco-friendly glycerin production plant, established at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel to avoid oils spills at the Vilcanota River.

The most recent project is an innovative technology to process eight tons of organic waste through pyrolysis (chemical decomposition at high temperatures in absence of oxygen, with no carbon emission). This process generates bio-char, a natural fertilizer that will contribute to biodiversity restoration in the cloud forest through one million trees. Their nurturing with help preventing natural disasters in Machu Picchu.

“It is a privilege for Peruvians to have this cultural and natural patrimony, and it is a great responsibility to conserve it for future generations,” stated Inkaterra founder and CEO José Koechlin. “This alliance committed to Machu Picchu’s carbon neutrality is an example of innovation for many reasons. For Peru, it is a successful case study on how goals may be achieved when the public and private sector work together. With support of the local community, Machu Picchu is becoming into the first destination of Latin America to accomplish a circular economy through policies for sustainable waste management. Having Machu Picchu as the first carbon neutral Wonder of the World is a powerful icon against global warming, and a model to champion sustainability.”

INKATERRA HAILS PERU’S REOPENING TO TOURISTS

“We are thrilled that we see light at the end of the Covid-19 tunnel,” says José Koechlin, founder and CEO of Inkaterra, the Peruvian hotel and travel group whose foundation and goals have long been the protection of the environment.

Effective November 1st, Peru is allowing tourists from North America to enter with a negative Covid test taken within 72 hours of departure of nonstop flights to Lima from a variety of U.S. cities. Peru closed its doors to tourism in March as the pandemic swept through Latin America.

On November 1st, Peru’s Minister of Tourism visited Machu Picchu for its formal reopening and stayed overnight at Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel. “From our standpoint,” says Koechlin, “the government’s decision to reopen Machu Picchu to only 25% capacity is a very positive step, and in line with the push we have been making for years – that over-tourism of Machu Picchu must be brought to a halt, that tourism to Machu Picchu must be carbon-neutral and that conserving Machu Picchu has to be the new normal.”

Koechlin opened Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel in 1991, and it is soon to be expanded with a new Cloud Forest wing. In addition to its two hotels at Machu Picchu, Inkaterra owns the award-winning Relais & Châteaux Inkaterra La Casona in Cusco, the elegant Inkaterra Hacienda Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, as well as the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, the Inkaterra Hacienda Concepcion and the Inkaterra Guides Field Station near Puerto Maldonado on the Madre de Dios River, a tributary of the Amazon. Inkaterra’s newest project is a new hotel on Peru’s Pacific coast at Cabo Blanco, set to launch in 2021.

“2020 has been catastrophic for Peru and the world,” Koechlin observed. “But we are confident that tourism in Peru will return to a semblance of normality in 2021, and that Inkaterra’s 45-year effort to protect our environment and our cultural heritage will be transformed into a national goal.”