Conserving Dry Tropical Forests of the Tumbesian Region
A profusion of wildlife, including 5,528 plant and 760 animal species known only to Peru. |
Peru is one of the world´s mega diversity countries, with a great concentration of endemic animal and plant species that are known nowhere else on Earth. Its ecosystems stretch from arid mid-Pacific coast across steep Andean mountains into dense Amazon rain forests, creating an astonishing 84 life zones with their diverse species of flora and fauna.
This enormous variety in species is further enriched by the great cultural wealth of native populations who since ancient times have developed extensive knowledge of the characteristics and potential uses of the country’s rich biological diversity.
NCI’s conservation dollars work hard in the field to protect Peru’s rich biological wealth, while helping local communities to find and sustain livelihoods based on living ecosystems.
Conserving Andean Cloud Forests
Andean cloud forests harbor great biological diversity with many endemic species of plants and animals in a multitude of ecological niches defined by altitude change and other factors. These eastern Andean cloud forests are the worlds number one biodiversity priority, due to their extraordinary species richness. NCI is working to conserve these fragile and unique forests through effective protection and management of key sites that will form a chain of protected areas the length of the ecosystem, complemented by appropriate community development plans. NCI projects include strengthening national park and reserve management in northern Peruvian cloud forests, programs in Cuyas to conserve extremely rare western slope cloud forests, and a paramo conservation program.
Conserving Dry Tropical Forests of the Tumbesian Region
Diminished by 95 percent, Tumbesian forests are a worldwide conservation priority. |
The tropical dry forests of northwestern Peru and southwestern Ecuador (Tumbesian Region) are considered a worldwide priority for biodiversity conservation due to both the magnitude of the endemism of their species, animals, and vegetation, as well as the reduction by about 95 percent of the region’s original extent by human activities.
NCI works in a number of important sites that prioritize protected areas and unique species: the La Ceiba - Pilares region, in the El Angolo and Talara Reserves, and working with the Limón Community. NCI also collaborates with the regional government to establish a Regional System of Conservation of Natural Areas, that includes such critical areas as the Limon dry forests, the plains of Talara and the moist cloud forest . NCI is now working to replicate this system in the bordering “departments” of Tumbes and Lambayeque. The goal is to assure that wildlife can range more widely within connected habitats within the ecoregions shared by these three Regions.
Conserving Lowland Rainforests of the Amazon
The Amazon Basin is the most biologically diverse ecosystem in Peru with a mosaic of habitats created by a range of soil conditions, altitudes, and river dynamics. The variety of habitats includes white water forests, black water forests, varzea (seasonally flooded forest/woodland growing along rivers in the Amazon), and some of the best examples in the Americas of rare white sand forests (species poor, but high in endemic species).
Within this ecosystem, NCI implements a major project with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to establish the Program for Conservation, Management, and Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity in the Region of Loreto (PROCREL) with the Regional Government of Loreto, the Institute for Investigation of the Peruvian Amazon, and other local stakeholders. This Program aims to create functional and sustainable protected areas and promote a strategy for the conservation and management of natural resources with local communities in the areas immediately around them. NCI also works through the Clements Conservation Fund to support management and protection of the Alpahuayo-Mishana Reserve, with its rare white sand forest and many endemic species.
Working On-Site for Both Wildlife and People
NCI enlists Peruvian conservationists and scientists to work on site with local communities. |
Instead of maintaining offices in the United States, like so many U.S. conservation groups, NCI focuses its resources in the countries where it works, enlisting Peruvian scientists and conservation professionals, many of whom come from the communities in which they work.
NCI approaches conservation challenges in a variety of ways: our main focus is on land conservation, with an emphasis on reserve creation and management, in a way that is integrated with development needs of local communities, but also includes scientific research and environmental education. NCI works with a variety of partners, including local communities, governments, nongovernmental organizations, and donors.
