Rapid biological and social inventories produced by a team from Chicago’s Field Museum were the basis for new areas dedicated to conservation in Peru, a new study shows. In the Amazonian department of Loreto, territory covered under some category of conservation went from 2 million hectares to 8.5 million hectares (4.9 million acres to 21 million acres). The study found that advances in protecting Loreto allowed not only the region, but also Peru as a whole, to meet the Aichi Goal of getting 17% of the country’s territory under some category of protection. Aerial view of the Maijuna territory. Image courtesy of Álvaro del Campo. After just 20 days of inventory in the Yaguas Reserve area, the Field Museum team was able to register 128 species of amphibians and reptiles. Image courtesy of the Field Museum. The Pristimantis padiali frog is an endemic species to the Loreto region. Image by Álvaro del Campo. Map of protected areas in 2000 and 2019. Image courtesy of the Field Museum. The Yaguas River, which crosses the reserved area of the same name, is home to more species of freshwater fish than anywhere else in Peru, according to a Field Museum study. Image […]
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