IN THE AREA

• Introduction
• Visiting
• Maps
• Photos
• TReeS Peru

The source of the Tambopata river lies high in the eastern cordilleras of the Andes, in the department of Puno. It flows north-east through cloud forest to meander over the lowland Amazon plain in the department of Madre de Dios, converging with the mighty Madre de Dios river at the departmental capital of Puerto Maldonado.

In terms of biological diversity, the forests of Madre de Dios are some of the richest in the world. Intensive research over the last 25 years on a small area of forest (5.5 km²) has identified more species of birds (587+), butterflies (1230+) and many other animal groups, than any other location of equivalent size on Earth. Furthermore, over 150 species of tree have been found in a 1 hectare plot. The IUCN and WWF have identified Madre de Dios as a World Centre for Plant Diversity. With diversity levels such as these, it is understandable that Puerto Maldonado has been titled the "biological capital of Peru" (by presidential decree).

Giant Anteater, Myrmecophaga tridactyla; Giant Armadillo, Priodontes maximus; Bush-dog, Speothos venaticus; Small-eared Dog, Atelocynus microtis; Giant River Otter, Pteronura brasiliensis; Jaguarundi, Herpailurus yaguarundi; Ocelot, Leopardus pardalis; Jaguar, Panthera onca; Crested Eagle, Morphous guianensis; Harpy Eagle, Harpia harpyja; Black Caiman, Melanosuchus niger; Spectacled Caiman, Caiman crocodilus; Yellow-spotted sideneck Turtle, Podocnemis unifilis.

With just 75,000 people living in 80,000km², Madre de Dios is the least populated, least developed area of Peru, and 90% of its forests are still standing. However, a number of threats are currently endangering the region’s forests: 1) oil and gas prospecting; 2) timber extraction; 3) gold-mining; 4) unsustainable farming practices by immigrants from the Andes, particularly cattle ranching; 5) uncontrolled tourism development; and 6) inappropriate or ambiguous laws concerning natural resource utilisation.

Madre de Dios is largely a rural economy, with about half the population living in small subsistence communities along the rivers and roads. Through their regional Federations, FENAMAD and FADEMAD, TReeS supports both indigenous and non-indigenous communities to maintain or develop sustainable types of land use that will reduce the need for deforestation.

Madre de Dios is home to 18 different ethnic groups of Amazon Indians who currently number about 10,000. This is only a fraction of their numbers at the beginning of the 20th Century; since the start of the rubber boom in the 1890s, their populations have been decimated by disease, slavery and murder. Nevertheless, the region possesses some of the world’s last great wilderness areas where forest communities continue to live traditionally with no direct contact with the "modern" world. For these people especially, forest conservation is a matter of life or death.

Traditional peoples in Madre de Dios are caught between two cultures, and not only their physical wellbeing but also their dignity and self-respect have suffered. For the last 19 years TReeS has supported the local indigenous Federation (FENAMAD) with contributions for health and cultural programmes, for occasional institutional funding, and for workshops on development issues. TreeS’ support has been an important contributory factor to a resurgence of interest in traditional cultures, which continue to make a valuable contribution in a world where modern medicines are out of the reach of most people, and modern farming methods are unsustainable.

TReeS supports an indigenous Cultural Centre located on the Tambopata river in the ese’eja native community of Baawaja. Patients can stay at the Centre to receive treatment from a local healer, and meetings are held to exchange information between healers from different communities. The Centre includes a medicinal plant garden and an extensive herbarium, built up with the help of a researcher from New York Botanical Gardens. The Centre is also the base for a project in which the ese’eja are recording their history and traditional songs and stories. TReeS support is vital to enable them to pursue such activities.

To date, most of the scientific work in the Tambopata region has been undertaken at a number of tourist lodges. TReeS itself was originally founded by a group of English biologists who had worked as volunteers at the Explorer’s Inn. These lodges over the years have offered their facilities and adjoining forest to researchers. For 25 years tourist lodges have introduced visitors to the tropical forests of Tambopata – their beauty, their importance, also their accelerating destruction.

The exceptional diversity and pristine state of much of the Tambopata region offers tremendous potential for biological research. TReeS provides support to 1) biologists and social scientists from Peruvian universities for specific field studies, thereby increasing both knowledge of the region and also in-country expertise on Amazonia; and 2) Peruvian counterpart researchers in international research expeditions to the area.

In 1996 TReeS formed a branch for Research and Monitoring Studies (RAMOS) which initiated a program of long-term wildlife monitoring. The results have been used to assess environmental impacts of hunting and tourism and have shed light on the current conservation status of many species.

TReeS also acts as an information network for scientists and others who plan to visit the Tambopata area, and has also published a comprehensive summary of all research undertaken in the Tambopata area over a 15 year period (Reporte Tambopata 1995).

Further funds are needed to continue supporting local research efforts and training, to provide data in support of biodiversity conservation at a time when the region’s environmental stability is being threatened, and to improve dissemination of information both within Peru and among the international research community.

Since 1995, TReeS has maintained an office in Puerto Maldonado and employed a local co-ordinator, whose job it has been to 1) identify, advise and monitor local initiatives and researchers in need of TReeS support; 2) participate in round table discussions on conservation activities and development issues in the area; 3) give talks in local schools on ecological and conservation issues; and 4) advise visiting researchers.

December 1999 saw the first meeting of TReeS Peru, a sister organisation to TReeS UK. The founders of TReeS Peru are biologists and social scientists who have worked in the Tambopata area and share TReeS UK’s philosophy of supporting local initiatives to combine environmental conservation with sustainable development. The formation of TReeS Peru allows for greater decision-making by the people co-ordinating our work on the ground, and opens the door to direct fund-raising within Peru to help fund the growing number of projects.