The Southwest Amazon Drone Center located in the Peruvian Amazon, launched in 2017, focuses on training local landowners, indigenous communities, students, and officials in Peru to actively monitor and report illegal deforestation in the western Amazon as well as providing drone overflights for the local government upon request. 

This center allows for local community members to obtain training, certifications, and access to high-tech drones that can be used as remote sensing tools to monitor deforestation in tropical forests in a safe, fast, and scientific way. Last year, we trained and certified 89 individuals in using drones and smartphone apps to detect illegal activities in remote areas of their forests, and report them using drone imagery as legally-admissible evidence for law enforcement to be able to take action and prosecute offenders. Sixteen of the new users were women, and their numbers continue to increase as we focus on their inclusion in this type of training. 

By providing these services, we empower people to protect their forests by giving them the tools needed increase legal responses to illegal activities. Presenting evidence, such as drone photos and videos of unlawful deforestation or mining, can be used to prosecute offenders which then deters future illegal activities. Moreover, the use of drone technology is important due to the vastness and remoteness of the Amazon Rainforest — it is a challenge to patrol by foot and stop incidents of illegal deforestation. Face-to-face encounters with those conducting illegal deforestation for financial gain can also be extremely dangerous, and potentially deadly. With technology, Amazon Conservation is changing that.

This story is part of a series commemorating our 20th anniversary protecting the Amazon. We’re celebrating this milestone with a look back at our 20 biggest conservation wins over the past 20 years. Click here to support trainings that help local community members in the Amazon protect their forests.

“Paddington Beetle” Phytotelmatrichis osopaddington

At Amazon Conservation’s biological stations around Peru, biodiversity extends beyond just mammals and birds. More than 1,000 new species of beetles were believed to be discovered around these areas in a major study conducted a few years ago by lifelong beetle researcher and expert Dr. Caroline Chaboo, along with around with 40 beetle experts from around the world.

The first to be described in that study was discovered at our Villa Carmen Biological Station, located in the Andean foothills. Named Paddington (Phytotelmatrichis osopaddington), in reference to the Spectacled bear from the movie and children’s books, Dr. Chaboo had hoped the new beetle will raise awareness about biodiversity and conservation in Peru. Additionally, she has published a series of scientific papers titled “Beetles of Peru”– an extensive project spanning ten years–which identified more than 10,000 different types of beetles. Read Part 1 of her studies here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285619523_Beetles_Col.

Peru is home to many beetle species

Recently, researchers Michael Caterino and Alexey Tishechkin published a detailed beetle study with 49 new species, including 26 new species from Peru, many coming from Dr. Chaboo’s specimens, titled “Recognition and revision of the Phelister blairi group”. One specimen, Phelister chabooae, is even named after her!

This story is part of a series commemorating our 20th anniversary protecting the Amazon. We’re celebrating this milestone with a look back at 20 significant conservation wins over the past 20 years. Click here to support the protection of these areas that provide spaces for important research like this that helps us learn more about the Amazon.

Thanks to the incredible biodiversity in the Andean Amazon, scientists conducting research at our biological stations have discovered multiple new species. In this 20 for 20 story, we’re highlighting some of our favorite frog discoveries over the years.

An Amazon Conservation-funded research team discovered the 7,000th amphibian species in the world at our Wayqecha Cloud Forest Research Station . The new glass frog, described as Centrolene sabini, was particularly intriguing for researchers due to its high sensitivity to the chytrid fungus. The team was led by Wayqecha’s then-research coordinator Alessandro Catenazzi, who has extensive background studying frog populations around the area, documenting the decline in frog diversity and populations. 

Additionally, the Andean region’s smallest known frog was discovered at our Wayqecha Cloud Forest Research Station. Smaller than a dime, the Noble’s pygmy frog (Noblella pygmae) surprised herpetologists studying at Wayqecha because it contradicts the informal rule that high altitude vertebrates tend to be larger than low altitude vertebrates.  Noble’s pygmy frog is among the smallest vertebrates ever found at this altitude, and one of the smallest amphibian species in the world.

The last highlight of today includes a new frog discovered at Los Amigos Biological Station. This species, Pristimantis divnae, belongs to the family Strabomantidae and lives in the leaf-litter and understory in terra firme forest at the base of Peru’s southern Andes. The species is characterized by a contrasting pattern of yellow and black with brown patches.

This story is part of a series commemorating our 20th anniversary protecting the Amazon. We’re celebrating this milestone with a look back at our 20 biggest conservation wins over the past 20 years. Click here to fund important research at our biological stations in and around the Amazon.

High school student Madeleine Herberger has always had a passion for animals and the environment, and last year she was able to visit the Amazon Basin in Peru, nearby where our conservation hubs of Los Amigos, Villa Carmen, and Wayqecha operate. Reflecting on that trip she says, “I was able to spend four incredible days soaking up the awesome beauty and nature there, learning facts about leaf ant highways, tarantulas, clay licks, and more.” 

One aspect of the trip that stood out to her was the amazing range of biodiversity found in this particular region of the Amazon, the headwaters to the Amazon basin. The Amazon’s diverse forests are home to 10% of the world’s known wildlife species, and Madeleine remembers how, “One of the group members photographed a suspected undiscovered insect. This experience made me realize how much the Amazon holds and how important it really is not just to the region, but to our entire world ecosystem.” Not only does a healthy Amazon provide an important mosaic of habitats for over 350 endangered and endemic species, it also serves as a climate regulator, storing over 150 billion metric tons of carbon—more than a third of all the carbon stored in tropical forests worldwide. Amazon forests also absorb 2 billion tons of carbon dioxide each year, representing 5% of global annual emissions.

But Madeleine’s trip also revealed to her how the Amazon is being threatened, as it nears closer to its “tipping point”. This is when the Amazon will no longer be able to generate its own rainfall and support its rainforest ecosystems. Estimates place the current deforestation level of the Amazon at 17%, and its tipping point at 20-25%. If the tipping point is surpassed, the largest rainforest on Earth could become—at best—a dry grassland. So after returning to the United States, Madeleine planned to share this experience with others and raise awareness on the importance of the Amazon rainforest. 

Citing her experience and enjoyment working with children as a babysitter, she came up with a series of virtual art lessons for kids for her school senior project, each focusing on an “amazing animal”, such as macaws, sloths, and leaf-cutter ants. Not only do children learn how to draw the animal, but the lesson also includes fun facts about the species and their English and Spanish names. “These virtual lessons would also help parents who might need a break trying to come up with ways to entertain their children during the pandemic, as well as bring the cause to their attention,” she adds.

It is always inspiring when the next generation of conservationists find new and creative ways to promote conservation in the Amazon. Madeleine says, “I hope to create a series of art lessons that have educational elements focused on Amazonian wildlife, with an overarching theme of raising awareness about the importance of the Amazon basin.” 

Details: 

Classes are free of charge, with optional donations to support Amazon Conservation’s programs that protect the Amazon and all of the important species and communities that call it home. Click here to support Madeleine and the protection of the Amazon rainforest.

The next class is at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 12th. Click here to register.

Schedule 

Classes will run every week on Saturday from 11:00-11:45  a.m. Click here to register.

Contact information 

Contact Madeleine Herberger at the above link for more information.

Andean forests faced escalating threats from illegal gold mining, illegal logging, illegal drug plantations, unsustainable agriculture, cattle pasture, and road construction, and new tactics were needed to address the problems. In response, Amazon Conservation and Conservación Amazónica – ACCA developed MAAP – Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project to provide real-time satellite monitoring deforestation reports. 

Since the establishment of MAAP in 2015, the program has provided geographic information and evidence of illegal gold mining, deforestation, logging, and more to the public and government officials. MAAP currently monitors 83% of the Amazon rainforest across five countries: Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil, and Colombia.

This past summer, in anticipation of the fire season, we’d improved upon our novel MAAP Amazon Fire Tracker App, which recorded over 2,500 major fires across the Amazon. We also provide MAAP deforestation reports directly to government officials who can take action on the ground against the illegal activity, and this information has helped prosecutors stop deforestation in Pariamanu and Chispa, Peru. Additionally, a major success was last year year, when we helped Peruvian government officials in the dismantling of an illegal mining stronghold in La Pampa, Peru causing deforestation in the area to plummet by 90%.