Upper Amazon

In this very important area, part of our program is a partnership with the Asociación Peruana para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (APECO) and supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. It aims to significantly strengthen the management and protection of the three protected areas in Peru’s northern montane forests that cover in total 1.4 millon acres– the Rio Abiseo National Park, Alto Mayo Forest and Cordillera de Colán Reserved Zone. We have doubled the number of park personnel in these areas, and initiated a number of social programs with neighboring communities. Conservation of these three protected areas will form the core of a conservation strategy for this ecosystem. 

These areas contain a rich assemblage of montane, cloud and elfin forests that protect the region's high biodiversity and many endemic species. Over 300 species of birds are found in these areas, of which 23 are globally threatened, including the Royal Sunangel, Ochre-fronted Antpitta and Long-Whiskered Owlet. An endangered primate, the Yellow-tailed Wooly Monkey, lives only in these forests, as do five frog species found only in Rio Abiseo, and many endemic plant species.