A Collective Legacy: Peru’s Voluntary Conservation Movement

Carolina Butrich – Manager, Conservamos por Naturaleza

Peru is a country of incredible megadiversity and home to an extraordinary range of natural habitats, ranging from the majestic Andes to the vast Amazon rainforest. At 1.2 million square kilometers, Peru is Latin America’s fourth largest country, and more than 60 percent of its area is rainforest.

The country’s remarkable biodiversity signals the vital need for conservation in the region. Peru has responded to that need by creating the National System of State Protected Natural Areas (SINANPE), which safeguards 17.9 percent of its territory. Two other resources—a conservation law group, and a network of networks—also champion conservations success and innovation in Peru.

Increasingly, the nation’s biological wealth is being stewarded not only through government-led initiatives, but also by a growing voluntary conservation movement led by Peruvian citizens. Individuals, families, and communities across the country are dedicating their lands to conservation, ensuring that Peru’s natural heritage thrives for generations to come. That is made possible by an evolving legal landscape that has enabled conservationists to develop the tools necessary to practice effective private land protection.

Overview of Peru’s Voluntary Conservation Movement

In Peru, a collection of legal tools empowers private and communal landowners to formally protect natural spaces, complementing national and regional protected area systems. These tools enable individuals and organizations to create privately protected areas (PPAs) that connect biodiversity corridors, foster a deeper culture of conservation, and preserve species and ecosystems that would otherwise be unrepresented in a system consisting only of state-managed parks.

Tools for Private Land Conservation

PPAs in Peru exist on both private and public lands. On private property, landowners can voluntarily commit parts, or all, of their land to conservation by registering it as a Private Conservation Area (ACP) under the Ministry of Environment. ACPs are binding for a minimum of 10 years and are included in the SINANPE. They allow research, ecotourism, and carbon-credit trading, among other conservation activities but impose certain restrictions on the use of resources.

Another option is a conservation agreement, which involves binding protection measures in exchange for specific conditions or benefits.

Tools for Public Land Conservation

On public lands, Peruvian law allows for forestry concessions designed for non-timber activities. These include conservation concessions (CC), ecotourism concessions (EC), reforestation concessions (RC), and non-timber forest product concessions. Individuals, organizations, or enterprises can request these concessions—often granted for renewable 40-year periods—to carry out conservation activities, sustainable tourism, reforestation, or responsible resource management. Additional tools, such as Relic Forest Easements and Agroforestry Easements, further expand opportunities for sustainable land stewardship.

Though many new mechanisms and bodies for protecting nature have emerged in Peru over the past few decades, the nation has continued to suffer rapid biodiversity loss and face challenges related to the equity and effective regulation of protected areas.

A paper published in Conservation Science and Practice in September 2024 explores the landscape of private conservation in Peru through the lens of one of its biodiversity hotspots, Madre de Dios. Its authors found individuals and families govern the majority of privately conserved areas, but that for-profit companies govern at least half of the area of privately conserved areas. This creates vulnerability for local people and communities who are less likely to share fairly in the benefits of conservation when it is being carried out by non-local actors.

The Importance of Conservation Networks in Peru

Networks are one strategy for effectively elevating the voices of local people and communities, as well as for stimulating necessary legal change; leveraging collective action to influence policies; directing the flow of funding; and creating social narratives around conservation. Peru strengthens its voluntary land conservation movement through national and regional networks that unite conservation leaders and communities.

Amazonía que Late a Network of Networks

At the national level, the Amazonía que Late network encompasses 180 conservation initiatives across 11 regions, collectively protecting more than 2 million hectares. These 11 regions—Piura, Cajamarca, Amazonas, San Martín, Loreto, Ucayali, Pasco, Huánuco, Junín, Cusco y Madre de Dios—are organized into eight regional networks, each with its own work plan and shared conservation goals tailored to regional challenges.

Participants of the III Meeting of Voluntary and Communal Conservation formed Amazonía que Late at their gathering in 2017. Its members call themselves forest guardians and volunteer their time as public servants safeguarding Peru’s natural and cultural heritage.

The networks of Amazonía que Late play a pivotal role in advancing Peru’s conservation agenda. By facilitating collaboration, sharing experiences, and fostering decentralized efforts, they enhance resilience against threats such as deforestation and illegal activities. Locally organized networks amplify voices for advocacy and policy engagement while promoting sustainable livelihoods rooted in conservation.

SPDA’s Role in Strengthening Voluntary Conservation

Without legal expertise, Peru’s conservation movement could not have achieved the milestones it has in the past 30 years. In 1986, a group of students recognized the ongoing need for legal counsel for nature and established the Peruvian Society for Environmental Law (SPDA). This was Peru’s first environmental law organization. To this day, it is one of the most respected and longest-established environmental law organizations in Latin America. Since then, the SPDA has been integral to the success and dynamic nature of the conservation movement and has worked hand-in-glove with the nation’s robust system of conservation networks.

The SPDA Approach

The SPDA centers its work around four core approaches: (1) gender and sexual diversity, which affirms its commitment to equality, rejection of discrimination based on gender and sexual orientation, and aim to establish respectful practices for human rights; (2) response to complaints, which seeks to establish efficient mechanisms to receive, channel, and manage complaints from its community regarding failure to meet institutional policies; (3) environmental sustainability, which expresses a commitment to promote environmentally responsible practices, internally, to reach institutional goals and lead the way towards sustainable development; and (4) relationships with Indigenous Peoples, which promotes respect, confidence, and the incorporation of Indigenous rights and interests in its practice.

Amending Legislation

The SPDA has been involved in several high-profile conservation developments since its founding. These include its support for forming the Environmental and Natural Resources Code of 1990, creating the Environmental National Council in 1994, and creating the Ministry of the Environment in 2008.

Advocacy

In 2012, it launched a campaign initiative called Conservamos por Naturaleza, which has proven successful in championing Peru’s voluntary conservation movement. Conservamos por Naturaleza develops various campaigns and programs aimed at immersing people in nature and environmental advocacy. These have included “Do it for your wave,” a campaign to protect waves, leveraging Peru’s unique legals system that was the first in the world to protect waves; “Do it for your beach,” which organizes Peru’s largest beach cleanup each summer; and the “Aceleradores por Naturaleza” initiative, fostering a Latin American network of young conservationists seeking innovative solutions to environmental issues.

Additionally, Conservamos por Naturaleza publishes a conservation-inspired travel guide, provides a free course for young and emerging conservationists, and holds myriad annual events from festivals to expert talks.

By strengthening legal and institutional frameworks, while empowering individuals and communities to act, Conservamos por Naturaleza transforms conservation into a collective responsibility and a source of national pride.

Conclusion

Even in a landscape dominated by public and for-profit actors, Peru’s voluntary conservation movement proves that change begins, and is sustained, locally. For decades, families, civil society organizations, and communities have taken action to protect and steward land and biodiversity. More recently, their work has gained formal recognition thanks to the support of networks and legal experts dedicated to a more equitable future for conservation.

As the region continues to make progress against the real and daunting challenges of climate change, funding availability, inequalities, and more, it is increasingly showing that the sector accomplishes the most when there is a role for everyone in protecting nature and safeguarding Peru’s extraordinary biodiversity.