NCI Leads Creation of Peru’s First Private Watershed Conservation Area

07/10/2010

July 10, 2010 | Nature and Culture International played a crucial role in the creation of the new 17,000-acre Tilacancha Private Conservation Area, which protects the water source for the city of Chacapoyas, the capital of Peru’s Amazonas region. The conservation area, located within the rural communities of Maino and Levanto, is the first PCA in Peru with the explicit objective of conserving a watershed. NCI carried out a number of hydrological studies within the watershed, installing a meteorological station in the region and studying the potential for the implementation of a “payments for environmental services” system.

The creation of this important reserve came after three years of collaborative work between the Provincial Municipality of Chachapoyas, the Institute for Investigation of the Peruvian Amazon, NCI, the Peruvian Association for the Conservation of Nature, the water company EMUSAP SRL, and leaders of the rural communities of Maino and Levanto. Work in the area continues today as a sustainable management system for the area is developed, which may include a water fund or a payments for environmental services scheme.