Amazon
Jaguar (Pantera onca).
Peruvian Amazon: unique and diverse
The Amazon River originates at 5500 m.a.s.l. in the southern Andes of Peru, which has the second largest extension of Amazon forests (over 70 million hectares).
The presence of the Andes Mountain Range has given way to the most extraordinary and biodiverse Amazon ecosystems: from unique clouded forests to vast flooded forests that include the largest Ramsar site (wetland of international importance) in the entire Amazon.
There are many record numbers of bird, plant, insect and mammal species, including countless endemic species. This unique region houses 300 000 indigenous members of over 50 ethnic groups and represents the last refuge of nearly 10 000 indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, for whom these forests and rivers are their source of life.
The WWF Peru Amazon Programme promotes biodiversity conservation and the preservation of the environmental services of the Peruvian Amazon alongside indigenous and local communities, facing growing pressures such as hydrocarbon extraction, illegal logging, intensive agriculture and others produced by great infrastructure projects that lack an adequate planning process.
Quick facts:
The presence of the Andes Mountain Range has given way to the most extraordinary and biodiverse Amazon ecosystems: from unique clouded forests to vast flooded forests that include the largest Ramsar site (wetland of international importance) in the entire Amazon.
There are many record numbers of bird, plant, insect and mammal species, including countless endemic species. This unique region houses 300 000 indigenous members of over 50 ethnic groups and represents the last refuge of nearly 10 000 indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation, for whom these forests and rivers are their source of life.
The WWF Peru Amazon Programme promotes biodiversity conservation and the preservation of the environmental services of the Peruvian Amazon alongside indigenous and local communities, facing growing pressures such as hydrocarbon extraction, illegal logging, intensive agriculture and others produced by great infrastructure projects that lack an adequate planning process.
Quick facts:
- The Amazon River originates at over m.a.s.l. in the southern Andes of Peru.
- Peru is the second country with the largest extension of Amazon forests (over 70 million hectares).
- The Peruvian Amazon houses over 300 000 indigenous members of more than 50 ethnic groups.
- The virgin forests of Peru are the last refuge of approximately 10 000 indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation.
- The indigenous populations (Junikuni, Sharanahua, Awajun, Ashaninka, Amahuaca, Yine, Ese Eja, Shipibo Achuar, Kandozi, Quechua, Urarinas and Cocama – Cocamilla, among others) are main allies of WWF Peru in the conservation of the biodiversity in the Amazon and sustainable management of their resources.
- The pink (Inia geoffrensis) and gray (Sotalia fluviatilis) Amazon River dolphins are key Amazon species that have been prioritized by WWF for their conservation.
- The big leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla) is one of the most valuable and overexploited species, which is why WWF Peru actively promotes a sustainable forest management, while prioritizing diversification of species and respect for the forests.
- In line with the WWF Amazon Network Initiative, WWF Peru’s goal is to guarantee the conservation and integrity of key ecosystems of the Peruvian Amazon, to achieve the joint conservation of these Amazon ecosystems and species by 2030, guaranteeing the continuity of their environmental services and of its role as a world climate regulator.
Amazon Programme
