Towards a new national park: The Yaguas River Basin in the Peruvian Amazon

Timeframe: 2017 - 2020
Country/Region: Peru, South America
Partner: Frankfurt Zoological Society

The purpose of this project is to improve the protection of the Yaguas Reserved Zone, a large wilderness area in the northern Peruvian Amazon with only transitional conservation status by now, and its declaration as a national park. In Peru, the Yaguas Reserved Zone is considered the last opportunity to declare a terrestrial national park of large extension (868’927 ha) and with an extremely high biodiversity. Also, the area covers the entire upper basin of the Yaguas River, which contains the highest diversity of fish in the Peruvian Amazon. Within the Yaguas Reserved Zone there are no human settlements but currently the area is under severe threat by illegal mining and the exploitation of its rich natural resources by some inhabitants of the thirteen surrounding communities. The project will be implemented by the Frankfurt Zoological Society and aims at

  • Achieving the official declaration of the Yaguas Reserved Zone as a national park by law through the government of Peru
  • Reducing illegal activities within the protected area by strengthening control and vigilance capacity of the Peruvian Protected Areas Agency (SERNANP) in the Yaguas Reserved Zone
  • Enabling the conservation of flora and fauna through a biological monitoring program and the support of fisheries management plans to provide sustainable resources for surrounding communities

In 2018, as the National Park had been officially declared, we agreed to support the establishement of the formal governance structure as well.