La Novia Landscape Conservation Initiative

General

The Alto Purs region of Peru, comprised of the Alto Purs National Park, the adjacent Purs Communal Reserve (a buffer zone of titled indigenous lands), and two protected reserves for isolated indigenous communities, harbors world-class levels of mammal and bird diversity (194 and 510 species, respectively) and globally endangered and threatened species: the black spider monkey (Ateles chamek), giant river otter (Pteronura brasiliensis), jaguar (Panthera onca), and the arapaima (Arapaima gigas), among the worlds largest freshwater fish that has been extirpated from all but the most remote parts of Amazonia. This project will support conservation efforts in Alto Purs by strengthening the La Novia Conservation Alliance between Perus park service, local indigenous communities, and non-indigenous townspeople, and protect threatened species by promoting income alternatives to unsustainable and illegal resource extraction. Activities include: community training and fieldwork to increase the population of the Yellow-spotted river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis), assessing populations of the giant river otter and arapaima fish to inform future management strategies, training and equipping community vigilance committees to more effectively respond to illegal resource extraction by outsiders, implementing the regions first community lake management plan, and providing support for a new research station and eco-tourism.