El Angolo Reserve is a major national protected area encompassing 162,000 acres of endangered dry equatorial forest in the Amotapes mountain range of Piura. Its significant biological diversity includes 150 bird, 17 mammal, 13 reptile, and 10 fish species, many of which are restricted to this Tumbesian dry forest ecosystem.
The reserve has also been recognized by BirdLife International as one of 130 “areas of importance for the conservation of birds” in Peru. This international recognition of its biological importance has made the reserve a conservation priority in the northwestern Peruvian dry forest.
El Angolo is internationally recognized for its diversity of birds. |
NCI is working to improve the conservation of the reserve and to create a more sustainable use of its natural resources by local populations, in partnership with the reserves Management Committee (which we head) and the government park service INRENA. We place a particular focus on the conservation of the regions endangered species of birds, in a program supported by Birdlife International in the reserve and its buffer zone.
Activities developed to date include:
• Two scientific expeditions to study the biodiversity of the protected area
• Training courses for 16 local teachers in the Schoolyard Ecology methodology and publication of educational guidebooks with information on the reserve.
• A public forum on biodiversity and management of the reserve to distribute and exchange information, experiences, and scientific advances related to the reserve and its buffer zone on locally and regionally.
• Training courses for buffer zone populations on alternatives to land exploitation and the benefits of sustainable management of resources such as forest management projects in the buffer zone of protected areas.
• Gathering information on the principal economic activities of the area, including cattle ranching, to assist INRENA in initiating the process of cattle management.
• Establishing the first program of voluntary national park rangers for the reserve and its buffer zone, with participation of eight community leaders from the buffer zone.
Donors: British Birdwatching Fair (BBWF), BirdLife International
