Peru

Peru is one of the twelve countries acknowledged as megadiverse, concentrating 84 zones of life and 17 transitional ones, 11 natural eco-regions, and diverse species of flora and fauna (at least 5.528 and 760 endemic species, respectively).  This diversity has a clear entailment with the presence of both a great cultural wealth and traditional knowledge regarding the uses and characteristics of the biological diversity.  This reality forces the country to assume a world-wide commitment concerning the conservation of its natural resources, given the environmental, social an economical benefits that they provide. The main threats for the biodiversity are related directly to poverty issues (migratory agriculture and the selective wood exploitation, primarily), nevertheless, the approval of new concessions of exploration and operation of hydrocarbons and minerals, due to the world-wide increase of their prices, represents also a threat at the moment.

The North zone of Peru, which integrates the departments of Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque, Cajamarca and Amazonas, contains the following natural eco-regions:  mangrove trees plantations, dry forests, mountainous forests, paramos and humid forests.  Most of these eco-regions are not sufficiently represented in the National System of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SINANPE), and in the case of Piura, formally it is only protected one of these areas.
 
Recently, along with the decentralization, it is being encouraged the active and direct participation of the civil society in the processes of preservation (especially in-situ).  Among these initiatives can be mentioned the Regional Conservation Areas, Municipal or Private (that include those established by the rural communities on their territories) and the concessions for conservation, ecotourism, ecological observances (based on environmental services) or the local forests.  

In this context, NCI started its activities in Peru since the midst of 2004, concentrating its initial efforts in the department of Piura in five Important Bird Areas (IBAs), on the bases of the following lines of work: research, environmental education, communitarian development, environmental management and the support to the Natural Areas Protected by the State or to the creation of new areas of conservation.  

At present, in Piura, there are two programs of conservation (for dry forests and mountain ecosystems), where the work is carried out directly with the proprietary and communities users of the forests.  Likewise, there has been collaboration with the Regional Government in the establishment of a Regional System of Conservation of Natural Areas, and it is being promoted its replication in Tumbes and Lambayeque, in order to establish the connectivity among the common eco-regions.  In this same line, in Loreto, NCI collaborates with the Regional Government of Loreto and the Research Institute of the Peruvian Amazonia (IIAP) in the implementation of the Program of Regional Conservation of Ecosystems of Loreto (PROCREL).

On the other hand, it has been initiated in the province of Ayabaca (where mountain forests and paramos are mainly located), the process of elaboration of the Local System of Environmental Management territorial systematization and Ecological Economical Zoning (as the bases for its plan of territorial systematization) in coordination with the Provincial Municipality, the Regional Government and the National Council of Environment (CONAM).  This initiative will contribute to give both legal and technical support to the processes of conservation initiated with the communities which are aimed to protect the main water sources in the region.

 

PIURA: Los Zafiros LL 13 Miraflores, Piura – Perú; Telf: (51) 73 348909 / 348914
nciperu@naturalezaycultura.org

LORETO: Av. Abelardo Quiñonez km. 1.5, Iquitos – Loreto; Telf: (51) (065) 22-7181
nshany@naturalezaycultura.org

AMAZONAS: Calle Triunfo 110, Chachapoyas; Telf: (51) (41) 479-122
wguzman@naturalezaycultura.org