Aguas Termales Reserve

The Amazon Medicine Institute has a strong mandate towards conservation and that includes a conservation development plan for a unique and important concession site located approximately two hours from the city of Pucallpa in the province of Huanúco, Peru. Over the last ten years we have fought to protect a small are of land in a region locally known as the Aguas Termales Reserve. Situated in one of Peru’s oldest oil-fields, the fifty-hectare site is situated in primary rainforest and is rich in geological features and unique flora and fauna. The site has also been internationally recognised in recent years for the presence of a unique geothermal system, which includes a “boiling river” that winds seven kilometres through the forest and reaches boiling point in several places. It is also the source of an unusual saltwater river known locally as the Cachiyacu.  You will also find many other fascinating features in the surrounding area, such as geysers, thermal waterfalls and saltwater pools, as well as many fossils.

We are currently in the process of a formal concession application with the government of Peru; a long and ongoing process that is often delayed by political instability. Once approved, our plan is to build a research centre where we will conduct programmes, host visitors and the local community, and an observation station to monitor the Aguas Thermales Region in partnership with our neighbours: Santuario Huishtín and Mayantuyacu.

The Rainforest Campus

Part of our environmental plan includes future-proofing our efforts. This would be achieved by building a strong network of participating partners (schools, institutions, businesses and organizations) that invest in creative cross-cultural research and ecologically focused education both locally and internationally. The site will be home to a “land-based educational project”, a living laboratory where students and visitors, locally and internationally, will collaborate and exchange research on local projects. We will have live/work “tambos” where visitors will stay on site and develop their projects immersed in the tranquillity of the rainforest.

Conservation Plan

We also intend to serve our local community through educational initiatives that develop cultural and social development with an ecological guideline. Designated as an “ecotourism” concession (SERFOR), ecological and cultural conservation are guiding principles behind all of our projects. We will work with local environmental engineers and scientists who intimately understand the challenges of this unique environment and what must be done to maintain its integrity. One of our current efforts to start is to have the site recognized as a UNESCO Geopark.

The following are the first steps of our conservation plan. We are taking an adaptive approach, relying on ethical and transparent best practices in ecotourism as outlined by the International Ecotourism Society. The strength of our approach is built on a team of dedicated professionals who have come together over time and share our ideals and goals.

Orientation

Our concession site is 50 hectares in size and is located in Huanúco province, near the border with Ucayali. The site can be reached via Pucallpa by air and by car along the Campoverde highway, followed by a twenty-minute boat ride from the nearest town, Honoria, along the Pachitea River (a tributary of the Ucayali). From the banks of the Pachitea River, the trip consists of a hike through the forest to the Arkaea concession site. During the rainy season it is possible to take the boat down the thermal river a good part of the way.

Biome

The site is characterized by areas of high elevation with deep ravines and cloud forests. There is a dramatic change in water level and animal presence between the wet and dry seasons. The atmosphere tends to be humid in the region of the thermal rivers and drier in the most deforested areas. During the rainy season, when there is more plant growth and waterways, many more animal species migrate to the area. The site has many tall trees favoured by birds and monkeys including medicinal plants, rare flowers, fruit trees, orchids, epiphytes, lianas (vines), and large ferns. In the animal kingdom, there are howler, and squirrel monkeys, brown-capped marmosets (chichicos), marmosets, sloths, tree frogs, snakes, peccaries, tapirs and big cats (jaguar, jaguarundi, ocelots) and a diverse variety of insects, including tarantulas, leaf-cutter ants and butterflies. The area attracts a wide variety of Amazonian birds such as macaws, parrots, parakeets, kingfishers, hoatzin, pootoo, toucan, hummingbirds, and harpy eagles and orpendelas ( the tropical blackbird famous for hanging basket-weave nests from the high canopy).



Ongoing Challenges

In general, the site has suffered from environmental damage due to the illegal timber trade which has eliminated many rare species of mature trees and the encroachment of agriculture (cattle ranching).

The following is a summary:

• Soil erosion and depletion due to deforestation and invasive cattle grazing.
• Elimination of native trees and animal species due to illegal timber trade and poaching.
• Potential soil and water contamination from oil and mining industries (mercury and oil).
• Potential contamination of water and soil by tourist lodges.
• Impact of travellers visiting the site.
• Develop an annual research program topic dedicated to investigating issues of direct importance to the region’s social, cultural, and environmental conservation.
• Create local partnerships with neighbours and local communities (through our social plan) to ensure site protection.
• Develop educational programs to offer the local community with local universities in agroforestry methods, permaculture, special crops (nuts, dyes, perfumes), use and harvest of traditional medicine, salvage (more in our social plan) with incentives (micro grants) for small companies. (more in Arkaea’s Social Plan).

The Rainforest Campus

Part of our environmental plan includes future-proofing our efforts. This would be achieved by building a strong network of participating partners (schools, institutions, businesses and organizations) that invest in creative cross-cultural research and ecologically focused education both locally and internationally. The site will be home to a “land-based educational project”, a living laboratory where students and visitors, locally and internationally, will collaborate and exchange research on local projects. We will have live/work “tambos” where visitors will stay on site and develop their projects immersed in the tranquillity of the rainforest.

Conservation Plan

We also intend to serve our local community through educational initiatives that develop cultural and social development with an ecological guideline. Designated as an “ecotourism” concession (SERFOR), ecological and cultural conservation are guiding principles behind all of our projects. We will work with local environmental engineers and scientists who intimately understand the challenges of this unique environment and what must be done to maintain its integrity. One of our current efforts to start is to have the site recognized as a UNESCO Geopark.

The following are the first steps of our conservation plan. We are taking an adaptive approach, relying on ethical and transparent best practices in ecotourism as outlined by the International Ecotourism Society. The strength of our approach is built on a team of dedicated professionals who have come together over time and share our ideals and goals.

Orientation

Our concession site is 50 hectares in size and is located in Huanúco province, near the border with Ucayali. The site can be reached via Pucallpa by air and by car along the Campoverde highway, followed by a twenty-minute boat ride from the nearest town, Honoria, along the Pachitea River (a tributary of the Ucayali). From the banks of the Pachitea River, the trip consists of a hike through the forest to the Arkaea concession site. During the rainy season it is possible to take the boat down the thermal river a good part of the way.

Biome

The site is characterized by areas of high elevation with deep ravines and cloud forests. There is a dramatic change in water level and animal presence between the wet and dry seasons. The atmosphere tends to be humid in the region of the thermal rivers and drier in the most deforested areas. During the rainy season, when there is more plant growth and waterways, many more animal species migrate to the area. The site has many tall trees favoured by birds and monkeys including medicinal plants, rare flowers, fruit trees, orchids, epiphytes, lianas (vines), and large ferns. In the animal kingdom, there are howler, and squirrel monkeys, brown-capped marmosets (chichicos), marmosets, sloths, tree frogs, snakes, peccaries, tapirs and big cats (jaguar, jaguarundi, ocelots) and a diverse variety of insects, including tarantulas, leaf-cutter ants and butterflies. The area attracts a wide variety of Amazonian birds such as macaws, parrots, parakeets, kingfishers, hoatzin, pootoo, toucan, hummingbirds, and harpy eagles and orpendelas ( the tropical blackbird famous for hanging basket-weave nests from the high canopy).

Ongoing Challenges

In general, the site has suffered from environmental damage due to the illegal timber trade which has eliminated many rare species of mature trees and the encroachment of agriculture (cattle ranching).

The following is a summary:

• Soil erosion and depletion due to deforestation and invasive cattle grazing.

• Elimination of native trees and animal species due to illegal timber trade and poaching.

• Potential soil and water contamination from oil and mining industries (mercury and oil).

• Potential contamination of water and soil by tourist lodges.

• Impact of travelers visiting the site.

Tourism

With the growth of tourism in the area comes its own challenges. There have been problems in the past with water pollution and local logging. However, these problems are largely manageable. Recent publicity about the “Boiling River of the Amazon” has generated a great deal of interest and there has been a flood of local tour operators in the area. We will create an impact study to determine the number of guests that can be accommodated without threatening the environmental integrity of the area. We also intend to share our research with neighbours and model a positive tragedy for land revitalization in ecotourism that can be followed by others.

Environmental Plan

Our goal for the first stage of the conservation plan is an environmental assessment of Sire that will likely reconstitute the soil, plant native and endangered plant and tree species, clean up the rivers, and create a strategic plan. ecosystem restoration to facilitate the return of native plant and animal species while protecting habitat from future damage.

First Steps:

In Progress

• Develop an annual research program topic dedicated to investigating issues of direct importance to the region’s social, cultural, and environmental conservation.

• Create local partnerships with neighbors and local communities (through our social plan) to ensure site protection.

• Develop educational programs to offer the local community with local universities in agroforestry methods, permaculture, special crops (nuts, dyes, perfumes), use and harvest of traditional medicine, salvage (more in our social plan) with incentives (micro grants) for small companies. (more in Arkaea’s Social Plan).

The Ecotourism Concession in Perú

The stellar growth of tourism in the last fifteen years has awakened Perú to the inherent value of its unique natural features and to tourism as a powerful resource for economic development. There is a growing awareness of the environmental cost of intensive industry for future development and the potential of land grants as a solution. However, recent research on the problems inherent in land conservation has highlighted that a unilateral approach to rainforest conservation may be unreasonable and unsustainable. Part of the problem may be how we think about forests. Seen as a resource to be exploited or as a habitat for species other than humans, forests still exist outside the human domain in our imaginations. Interestingly, new archaeological research has revealed evidence in the form of ancient earthworks and tierra preta (anthropogenic fertilizer made up of plant matter and bones) used by human settlements deep in the Amazon for thousands of years. It is reasonable to imagine that humans have always lived in and with forests more symbiotically with potentially more nuanced farming methods than are currently practiced in industrial agriculture. With the inevitable growth of population and industry and its terrible environmental cost, we must reconsider the best ways to “live with the forests”. From our perspective, ecotourism, or “eco-arts-edutourism” in our specific case, offers us the opportunity to create an economically sustainable project while investing in our conservation ideals and goals. Studies have shown that ecotourism concessions in Peru are viable partners in environmental protection.

References

Gretzinger, Steve. “Latin American Experiences in Natural Forest Management Concessions Forestry Policy and Institutions” Working Paper, No. 35. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Rome, 2016.

Kirkby, Chris and Day, Brett and Turner, R. and Filho, Britaldo and Rodrigues, Hermann and Yu, Douglas. (2011). “Closing the ecotourism-conservation cycle in the Peruvian Amazon”. Environmental Conservation. 38. 6-17.

Marquardt, Kristina., Pain, Adam., Bartholdson, Örjan., and Luis Romero Rengifo. “Forest Dynamics in the Peruvian Amazon: Understanding Change Processes” Small-Scale Forestry (2019) 18:81–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-018-9408-3

Schroth, Götz, AB da Fonseca, Gustavo, Harvey, Celia A. Gascon, Claude, Vasconcelos, Heraldo L. and Anne-Marie N. Izac. Agroforestry and Biodiversity Conservation in Tropical Landscapes Island Press, 2004.

Zinngrebe, YM 2016. “Conservation Narratives in Peru: Envisioning Biodiversity in Sustainable Development.” Ecology and Society 21(2):35.

http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08512-210235