Kristina Solheim

ACPs (Áreas de Conservación Privadas), or private conservation areas, became legally recognized in Peru in 2010. By zoning their land, owners can chose to manage parts of it for conservation while keeping other parts for subsistence use and ecotourism. Small scale, bottom up conservation is a fledging grassroots movement in Peru. Participants do not receive any financial help from the government, even though many ACPs are providing ecosystem services, such as watershed protection for nearby cities and towns.

I spent six weeks in three different ACPs in Northern Peru learning about the challenges these landowners are facing. The main challenges I found were financing conservation, waste management, lack of land management knowledge, and problems with the surrounding communities.