On a Sunday morning hike this February, ACA Science Director Dr. Adrian Tejedor and others had the privilege of an exciting wildlife encounter at ACA’s Villa Carmen Biological Station. Located in the Manu Biosphere Reserve, the station hosts a wide variety of habitats and is esteemed for its diverse flora and fauna – including big cats! 

Today five of us – Nicole, Timo, Simeon, Erick, and I – went to retrieve camera trap cards, GPS a new trail, and look for fruits and gingers. Barely a kilometer from the house, along the western ridge, we came face to face with a group of white-lipped peccaries. We all went dead silent and stood behind spindly trees, one per person, while the 20 to 30 peccaries in the group, most of them juveniles, circled us in a surprisingly quiet disorder. A large adult came barely a meter away from my feet. This made me a little worried, but it smelled me, rattled its teeth briefly, and sprinted away. I looked up to the trail to check for more peccaries but saw instead a big, muscular jaguar trotting nonchalantly behind a couple of peccaries that lagged behind. It was obvious that my companions had seen it, too, because our collective silence became deader still.

The jaguar kept on coming closer until it was in full view, in the middle of the wide trail, some 8 meters away from us. Amazingly, it had neither seen nor smelled us. It turned to its left and showed us a rich golden flank that shone under a shaft of soft light. Oblivious to us, it pounced, rather unenthusiastically, on a straggling peccary but missed it and veered back toward the trail precisely in our direction. We watched in awe how the big cat walked on through the brush, coming straight at us, and closing in on us, as if we had turned invisible. The tension rose steeply; the approach seemed unsustainable. Either the jaguar or we had to give way. When it was, unbelievably, only two meters from us, it froze in its tracks, looked Nicole straight in the face – Nicole saw that it had cloudy eyes, like a dog with cataracts – and puffed out of sight with an explosive backward jump. A split second later, we erupted in celebration and triumphant hugs. (Text by Adrian Tejedor, photo from camera trap located at Villa Carmen Biological Station)

With the recent transition of executive directors, this is a good opportunity to restate our mission and the strategies we employ to achieve our objectives. Our mission is to conserve the biodiversity of the Amazon. The Amazon covers an enormous area encompassing diverse habitats. This is a bold mission for a small organization like ours. How can we actually achieve conservation success?

First, let’s set the context. We work in southeastern Peru and northwestern Bolivia on the eastern slope of the Andes, arguably the most biologically diverse region on the planet. Our neighbors include indigenous communities in voluntary isolation, Bolivia’s majestic Madidi National Park, and Manu National Park – the crown jewel of Peru’s national park system. While this region contains a staggering array of biological diversity, it also faces extreme threats. The rapid increase in illegal gold mining combined with the completion of the Interoceanic Highway has wrought enormous change in a remarkably short time frame. These developments have brought a measure of economic improvement to the region, but they have also triggered environmental destruction on a breathtaking scale. Pristine forest has been turned to wasteland and mercury is being dumped into rivers in ever-increasing quantities. At the same time, Bolivia’s highlands face growing development pressures and risks from climate change.

Conserving biodiversity in the face of these threats requires a multi-pronged set of strategies. First, we work diligently to establish protected areas. In the past two years, we have finalized the establishment of conservation concessions covering 47,000 acres, and have another 340,000 acres nearing completion. We’re currently developing an ambitious plan to protect nearly 2,000,000 acres over the next few years. Once established, these areas still have to be managed and monitored, but their susceptibility to threats is reduced substantially.

Second, we work closely with communities throughout the region developing alternative methods for earning a living without using destructive practices. In the lowlands, we’re promoting sustainable Brazil nut harvesting, planting fruit trees and cacao, developing small-scale fish ponds, and fostering ecotourism. In the highlands we’re reforesting degraded lands with sustainable wood that local communities can use for building and heating their homes, and working to develop protein-rich products like tarwi (a native high-protein seed) as a sustainable food source.

Third, we use scientific analysis to underpin our strategies and solutions. We’ve measured the mercury content in numerous fish species to educate the public on health hazards. We’ve studied the impact of unmanaged livestock on cloud forest regeneration. We’ve meticulously mapped out hundreds of Brazil nut trees and other keystone species to create management plans to protect these resources and the surrounding forests. We’re testing biochar (charcoal made from fast-growing bamboo) as a natural alternative to fertilizers to improve soil fertility and thereby increase productivity for local farmers.

Our three biological stations in Peru, strategically located in the cloud forest, mid-elevation, and the Amazonian lowlands, are a key platform for achieving conservation. These stations enable us to engage local communities over a sustained timeframe and to concentrate scientific research on issues ranging from describing new species to developing a replicable biodiversity monitoring program to analyzing the effects of climate change. They also are centers where researchers, local and international students, tourists, and members of the community can collaborate and exchange ideas.

Finally, we address the threats themselves. We’re advocating for offshore-inland pipeline construction, a roadless construction technique to reduce deforestation. We’re fighting illegal logging and mining through improved governance by providing decision-makers with better information and participating in regional-level planning. We’re increasing local capacity for land management, supporting local and regional government institutions, and providing leadership to regional efforts to respond to forest fires and create conservation finance mechanisms.

All of our efforts are designed to be scaled up, so even though we’re working in a specific geography in Peru and Bolivia, our vision is to create models that can be replicated throughout the Amazon basin. This work is complex and difficult but deeply rewarding. We could not achieve our successes without your support. Thank you all for your interest and your generosity in enabling us to conserve the Amazon. 

 (Text by Jeff Woodman; photo of Jeff by Ronald Catpo; waterfall photo by Gabby Salazar)

From August 19 to 29, the Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) hosted its second annual Birdathon to raise awareness about Peru’s incredible bird diversity and to help protect their habitat in and around Manu National Park. Led by Craig Thompson of the Wisconsin Bird Conservation Initiative, the group of conservationist birders traveled from the highlands to the lowlands, keeping a tally of the number of bird species they identified along the way.

This year, the group observed a total of 422 bird species – an increase of more than 70 species over last year’s total! Thompson was happy to report that, “Everyone was blown away by the birds, awed by the rugged Andes, and both impressed with and appreciative of [ACA’s] ongoing efforts to ‘save the world’s greatest rainforest.’”

The goal is to support the conservation of southeastern Peru’s globally important forests and the birds that depend on them by seeking sponsors to make a donation in honor of the event, either per bird species identified or a flat donation in an amount of their choosing. All funds raised go to ACA to further its ongoing conservation activities in the same region visited by the birders. The enthusiastic group exceeded its fundraising goal by raising over $34,000 to support ACA’s work to protect critical bird habitat in this region!

If you are interested in participating in future Birdathons or pledging support, please visit https://www.amazonconservation.org/getinvolved/birdathon.html, or email info@amazonconservation.org (Photo by Adrian Tejedor)

   On June 4, 2012, Peru’s first trust fund for a conservation concession was officially created to protect and conserve the Los Amigos Conservation Concession (LACC) in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon. The International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC), established to support biodiversity conservation in the tropics, established the $1 million endowment so that the Amazon Conservation Association (ACA), and its partner Asociación para la Conservación de la Cuenca Amazónica (ACCA), are able to continue working to conserve and protect the region from unsustainable development, gold mining, hunting, and illegal timber harvesting.

A conservation concession is an area of publicly owned land that is entrusted to a private entity for management in order to enforce policies conducive to biodiversity protection. Established by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2001, the LACC was the world’s first conservation concession, the success of which has led other countries to copy its design. Encompassing 360,000 acres of Amazonian rainforest, the concession has one of the highest levels of biodiversity in the area, with over 4,932 species currently registered. LACC is also home to the world-class Los Amigos Biological Station (known in Spanish as CICRA), one of the most active research stations in the Amazon basin.

Supporters gathered to inaugurate the establishment of the LACC Trust Fund at the June 4 event held in Lima. Rosario Acero, general director of forestry and wildlife at Peru’s Ministry of Agriculture, spoke in appreciation of the fund, stating that “this is a great accomplishment for the Ministry of Agriculture to have a concession – in this case, Los Amigos – obtain a trust fund that provides a long-term horizon for the development of activities. This experience is a first for conservation concessions, and I believe it is a symbol of good things to come in the future.”

Environment Minister Manuel Pulgar Vidal, also in attendance, expressed further support by commenting that civil society and conservation organizations “can now have the confidence to continue their work and fulfill their responsibilities, as shown today by the transformation of the LACC into an extremely successful example of a privately-run conservation area.”

Anne Lambert, managing director of the ICFC, spoke of the important role the LACC plays in the research and conservation of the region, and about how institutional strengthening of conservation organizations is crucial for ensuring sustained environmental protection. The trust fund will provide the financial resources needed by ACA and ACCA to vigilantly and efficiently protect the LACC from illegal logging, mining, and other threats.

The fund’s establishment constitutes the first step in ACA’s commitment to the Clinton Global Initiative to provide long-term protection for the Los Amigos Conservation Concession through the creation of an endowment that is to eventually grow to $10 million. The interest generated by these funds is needed to finance the ongoing management and monitoring costs of the concession in perpetuity. (First photo by Frances Buerkens, others by Ronald Catpo)

  Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) is delighted to share news of recent successes in community-based conservation in the Andes-Amazon region—with your support, three new protected areas were established over the past few months! Created with community engagement and participation, these new private conservation areas, covering 46,659 acres in the Cusco and Madre de Dios departments of Peru, will contribute to the protection of one of the most biologically rich places on the planet: the tropical Andes.

Private conservation areas (PCAs) are privately owned lands of biological, environmental, or scenic importance that are legally designated as conservation areas by Peru’s National System of Protected Areas and thus figure among the key landscapes that receive the system’s active protection. This area is globally recognized as a “biodiversity hotspot” due to its high concentration of endemic species facing severe habitat loss; moreover, its forests provide vital ecosystem services to the communities that live in and around them while helping to combat climate change.

 

Ukumari Llaqta Private Conservation Area

The highland community of Japu created this 46,196-acre reserve in Peru’s Cusco department; this indigenous community is part of the Q’eros Nation, whose residents are said to be the closest living descendants of the Incas. The rich montane forests of the Ukumari Llaqta PCA are home to an extraordinary number of species, many threatened by habitat loss, including the spectacled bear, Andean fox, and white-tailed deer. The area ranges from Andean highlands to Amazonian foothills, and ensures a refuge for those species expected to be forced to migrate upslope to escape the impacts of climate change.

 

Pumataki Private Conservation Area

The 406-acre Pumataki PCA is located within the territory of the Pillco Grande community in the department of Cusco and shares its eastern border with the southern tip of world-famous Manu National Park. These grassland and cloud forest ecosystems are home to hundreds of species—many of them endangered, such as the spectacled bear and the puma—and also contain the headwaters of the Pilcomayo River. The Pillco Grande community, which began efforts to develop the PCA in 2009, is interested in carrying out environmentally-friendly ecotourism and research activities. Located within an area of rapid deforestation and land-use change, the community has a strong commitment to reducing threats to the area from forest fires, logging, and agricultural expansion so that future generations can receive benefits from these communal forest resources.

ACA worked closely with the Japu and Pillco Grande communities to train and equip community park guards as well as to move the PCA designation process forward. The creation of these new protected areas was accompanied by community agroforestry, reforestation, and sustainable agriculture projects along with training in the prevention and control of forest fires. To see these activities and the community guards in action, check out our video: Regional REDD+ Models.

These activities and new conservation area declarations in Cusco were made possible in part through the generous support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) for two ACA projects: “New REDD Models for Tropical Montane Forests” and “Regional REDD Policy and Working Models for Indigenous and Traditional Communities in the Peruvian Andes-Amazon Interface.”

 

San Juan Bautista Private Conservation Area

The 57-acre San Juan Bautista PCA, located in the buffer zone of the Tambopata National Reserve in the department of Madre de Dios, was added to Peru’s National System of Protected Areas by a local family. They wish to preserve forests on their land for their grandchildren and carry out ecotourism and provide research and education opportunities within their PCA. This very recent addition to the National System of Protected Areas will help to guarantee conservation efforts in this brilliantly diverse region that is part of the Manu-Tambopata biological corridor. Researchers have already identified 33 threatened amphibian species within the PCA and sighted rare birds such as the endangered blue-headed macaw (Primolius couloni), shown here.

With support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, ACA provided technical support, including mapping and a species inventory, along with the legal documentation to obtain the PCA designation. While small in size, this area represents a key conservation commitment due to its location in the midst of an area rapidly being deforested by illegal gold mining in the fragile Tambopata Reserve buffer zone. Furthermore, it will provide the family with stronger legal protection against invasion of its property and forests by miners. 

  Peru’s Andes-Amazon region’s rich biological diversity is matched only by its cultural diversity. In the case of two communities in southeastern Peru near Manu National Park, the lowland Wachiperi and the highland Q’eros, Amazon Conservation Association’s conservation programs are complemented by the work of ethnomusicologist Dr. Holly Wissler, who is partnering with the communities to preserve their cultures through music. We are pleased to invite all our friends and supporters in the Washington, DC area on November 14th and 15th to two talks by Dr. Wissler to learn more about this project; please see the end of this email for details.

The Haramba Queros Wachiperi is a community located in the Andes foothills.  In June 2008 the Wachiperi became the first indigenous group in Peru to manage a conservation concession. The Haramba Queros Wachiperi Ecological Rerserve, created with ACA’s assistance, protects 17,238 acres of rainforest.

 Until recently, these stewards of Amazonian forests were disappearing. The Wachiperi lost a large portion of its members during the forced enslavement of the rubber boom in the early 20th century and during a 1948 small pox epidemic. Only 57 Wachiperi remain today. Of those remaining, barely half speak or understand their native language and only about ten members have retained their musical heritage.

Dr. Wissler’s project has helped the Wachiperi recover and relearn traditional songs, many of which focus heavily on the importance and beauty of the surrounding forest. In part due to this project and the new conservation concession, Wachiperi who had abandoned the community in search of work elsewhere are beginning to move back home. 

This new project comes shortly after Dr. Wissler’s work with the Q’eros community in the Peruvian Andes. The Quechua Andean community of Q’eros, a self-sufficient indigenous group, is located in the high Andes (ranging from 6,000 to 15,000 feet above sea level) in the Cusco region. In 2007, Dr. Wissler produced a documentary, “From Grief and Joy We Sing,” about the musical rituals of the Q’eros. Dr. Wissler believes there is a strong past cultural connection and exchange between the Q’eros and Wachiperi due to their close geographical relation and their shared use of the Queros River (from which both of their names are derived). 

Over the next two years, Dr. Wissler will work to create an archive of Wachiperi songs and text.  Much of the present archive is in existence thanks to the hard work of anthropologist Dr. Patricia Lyon, who recorded the songs of the Wachiperi community in 1964 and 1965.  In addition to the archive, a website will be created and a two-disc CD set will be produced, making certain future generations will be able to hear their ancestors’ voices and learn the songs themselves. Watch a video about her project here. 

ACA’s and Dr. Wissler’s collaborative work with the Wachiperi community provides an inspiring example of how forest conservation and cultural preservation can go hand in hand. By helping the Wachiperi regain their cultural traditions, the project not only benefits community, but protects the Amazon’s cultural and biological diversity for all.

Here are just a few of the things we were able to accomplish this year.

With your help, we:

• Protected five million acres of rainforest in Peru and Bolivia by supporting 637 families who depend on Brazil nut concessions for their livelihood.
• Protected the largest biological corridor in the Amazon headwaters by providing agroforestry support to 70 small landowners who are threatened by illegal gold mining and logging.

• Protected headwaters streams in the Manu National Park region by producing 90,453 tree seedlings to reforest 135 acres of degraded land.
• Engaged over 550 local schoolchildren by taking them on field trips to our biological stations and providing their teachers with educational materials about the importance of conserving local ecosystems.
• Pioneered the first use of a high-elevation constructed wetland that uses native plants to treat wastewater.
• Opened our new foothills research and education center, where we hosted 67 scientists studying climate change and conservation biology, two academic courses, and educational programs for 85 school children from the surrounding area.

You are helping us take effective action against the ongoing major threats facing forests, wildlife, and traditional communities of the Amazon Basin, and we want to take time out to thank you for your support and concern.

In one of the most diverse regions on the planet, Amazon Conservation Association (ACA) has partnered with the Institute for Peruvian   Amazon Studies (IIAP, in Spanish) to support local aquaculture and agroforestry ventures. As part of this project, we are working with several communities along the Interoceanic Highway in the southeastern Peruvian department of Madre de Dios to develop cooperative associations engaged in a number of conservation-friendly microenterprises, including aquaculture. By developing small-scale aquaculture enterprises, ACA is working to protect wild fish populations from overfishing, maintain biodiversity and promote sustainable livelihoods for local residents. 

According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, approximately 80,000 tons of fish are consumed annually [1] in the Peruvian Amazon, making fish a key protein source for local communities and maintaining an important source of employment for local fishing communities. The region’s abundant water supply, fish biodiversity, and appropriate climate make the Amazonian lowlands well-suited to aquaculture development, allowing small family farms to produce a highly marketable source of protein and improve their own food security. Not only does farming of native river species reduce pressure on wild fish populations, but it provides small farmers with a sustainable, profitable alternative to slash-and-burn farming or gold mining. 

The high aquatic diversity of Madre de Dios is heavily relied upon by local communities’ cultures and economies, yet it is increasingly vulnerable to rises in demand.  In 2009, individuals in certain communities in the Amazon were found to be eating approximately 325 lbs of fish a year [2]. As locals in Madre de Dios fish more to keep up with increasing demand, biodiversity comes under considerable pressure. For example, the paiche fish, seen to the left, is an Amazonian freshwater fish that can reach approximately eight feet in length and provide up to 150 pounds worth of meat, but it is highly vulnerable to overexploitation. Fortunately, aquaculture of Amazonian fish can decrease pressure on already scarce but highly important wild fish species like the paiche. The local market and growing national demand present important opportunities for aquaculture activities. By supporting small scale aquaculture projects in the Amazon, ACA hopes to provide a new sustainable livelihood alternative for these communities.  

In addition to the pressures of overexploitation of native fish species, the recent rise in illegal gold mining in Madre de Dios has caused an increase in the contamination of river fish by mercury, a potent neurotoxin used to extract gold. A study sponsored by ACA found that popular Amazon fish have been found to have high levels of mercury well above the standards set forth by the World Health Organization. Exposure to these toxins further diminished the health and well-being of families that are already vulnerable to diseases from unclean drinking water. Fish farms provide integral benefits to the surrounding communities by supplying safe, affordable fish.

 Together, ACA, IIAP and regional authorities are developing local technical expertise and improving links to locally sourced fish food and hatchery ponds, which represent considerable costs for small-scale fish farmers.