Put Science and Technology to Work MAAP Reports

In MAAP #1, we described the expansion of deforestation through February 2015 in La Pampa, a gold mining hotspot located in the Madre de Dios region in the southern Peruvian Amazon. Since then, we have obtained a new high-resolution image showing the current situation (as of late July 2015) in great detail in La Pampa. […]

Put Science and Technology to Work MAAP Reports

The Peruvian national protected areas system, known as SINANPE, is critically important to Amazon conservation efforts in the country. There are currently 46 protected areas in the Peruvian Amazon under national or regional administration*. In total, these areas cover 19.5 million hectares and include a wide variety of designations, including areas of indirect use (those […]

Educational Resources

Mining News Watch #17 covers the time period June 10- July 30, 2015 Top Stories  On July 13th, the Peruvian police carried out a major raid in the La Pampa mining zone (Madre de Dios), the first major government operation against illegal mining in eight months. Following the raid, the regional President of Madre de Dios, Luis Otsuka, complained […]

Put Science and Technology to Work MAAP Reports

Recall that in Image #2 we documented the rapid clearing of 2,126 hectares of primary forest between May 2013 and August 2014 for a new cacao project outside of the town of Tamshiyacu in the northern Peruvian Amazon (Department of Loreto). However, the company that carried out the forest clearing (United Cacao, through its wholly-owned […]

Put Science and Technology to Work MAAP Reports

Here, in MAAP #10, we show the results of a deforestation analysis of two sectors of Bahuaja Sonene National Park and its surrounding buffer zone. The Park, which covers an area of more than 1.6 million hectares in the regions of Puno and Madre de Dios in the southern Peruvian Amazon, is an area of […]

Put Science and Technology to Work MAAP Reports

Recall that in Image of the Week #7 we documented the increasing threats (illegal coca, logging, and mining) to the Sierra del Divisor Reserved Zone. We just obtained brand new, high-resolution imagery showing new deforestation deep within this protected area during the month of June. Here, Image of the Week #8, presents new maps of […]

Educational Resources

Mining News Watch #16 covers the time period March 17- June 10, 2015 Top Stories The Peruvian government announced in May that new complementary regulations for the formalization process will be released in August. To date, only 16 permits have been issued for formalized mining, affecting just 631 of the 58,835 miners that started the process […]

Put Science and Technology to Work MAAP Reports

As the Peruvian Government decides whether the Sierra del Divisor Reserved Zone should become a National Park, here in Image of the Week #7 we offer this new analysis of the current deforestation patterns of the area. A Reserved Zone classification, which was applied to Sierra del Divisor in 2006, is a temporary measure to […]

Western Amazon Newsletter

Last week our Peruvian partner Conservación Amazónica–ACCA helped host a spectacled bear workshop in Cusco. Held from June 4 to 9, the workshop—which brought together students, researchers, and decision makers in Peru—set out to strengthen spectacled bear conservation and share information. Spectacled bears (Tremarctus ornatus) live along the spine of the Andes and are the only bear native to South America. They […]

Western Amazon Newsletter

Wow, the results are in! Los Amigos Biological Station participated in this year’s Global Big Day on May 9th in a big way. Global Big Day a day on which birders worldwide attempt to record as many species of birds as possible within a 24-hour period. The 4-person team at Los Amigos included University of Michigan Ph.D. candidate Sean Williams. “My backyard in […]