Ecosystem Conservation & Culture: The Peruvian Amazon Project
 |
|
Join our journey in Peru on the winding rivers of the upper Amazon, one of the planet’s largest intact tropical ecosystems. Here, surrounded by an extraordinary diversity of lifeforms, we will have the unique opportunity to take part in on-going research at a biological station, discuss conservation strategy with local activists and research biologists, and study forests, rivers, plants, and animals under the guidance of indigenous
experts.
In Peru, we can expect to encounter creatures such as giant otters, river dolphins, anacondas, macaws, and several species of monkeys as we explore forests, wetlands, lakes, and rivers. Here too we will reside with indigenous communities where we will learn firsthand how their finely-tuned environmental knowledge shapes their culture; and work with conservationists to develop management strategies to address looming threats to wildlife populations, fisheries, ecosystems, and indigenous communities, including illegal logging, gold mining, and oil/gas development.
THE PROJECT
The program is composed of three closely related sections which we will explore in depth: Field research methods, where we will gain a hands-on introduction to field methods for biological and ethnological research in support of conservation and sustainable resource use in the upper Amazon; Conservation and resource management, where we will study the history, issues, and methods of conservation in this region; and culture and environment, where we will explore Native Amazonian societies’ culture, history, and relationships with natural environments. Our learning will be experiential and academic, with each team member bringing new insights to the group based on their fieldstudies with biologists and Amazonian peo
ple along with their firsthand analysis of Peru’s environmental challenges.
Team activities begin at Los Amigos Research Center, the most active biological station in the Peruvian Amazon located within a 20 million-acre conservation reserve adjacent to Manu National Park, where abundant wildlife includes giant otters, harpy eagles, monkeys, and jaguars. Los Amigos staff biologists and visiting researchers will offer field methods and integrate us into ongoing research and monitoring projects such as boat-based river transects to track reptile, bird, and mammal populations, forest transects to track mammal/bird populations, and forest data collection within permanent study plots. Upon leaving Los Amigos, we continue our participation in conservation research in the company of staff biologists at Bahuaja Sonene National Park and adjacent Tambopata National Reserve where ongoing studies include radio-tracking giant otters and jaguars.
We then travel to Rio Pichis, one of the headwaters of the Amazon River, situated in an intact upland tropical forest below the eastern flank of the Andes. Here we journey by boat and foot to study Asháninka communities where our hosts will orient us to their culture, history, traditional environmental knowledge, and relationship with 
natural resources. In the company of Peruvian conservationists we will learn about reforestation and fishery monitoring projects in Asháninka territory. We then travel downstream by road and boat to a Shipibo village near the huge Rio Ucayali where we study their sophisticated forestry management, traditional forest and aquatic knowledge, and textile and ceramic arts. The Asháninka and Shipibo possess sophisticated environmental knowledge, manage much of the region, and have begun, in a few places, to co-manage resources with conservation organizations. Working alongside these indigenous cultures will contribute to our field experience and increase our understanding of conservation challenges and solutions. Here, we will learn basic ethnographic field methods while undertaking individual studies on indigenous peoples’ perspectives of flora, fauna, forests, and rivers.
We wrap up our journey in Pucallpa, beside Rio Ucayali, with reflection on lessons learned. The insights gained by immersing ourselves in the abundant life of the upper Amazon, rubbing elbows with scientists and locals, negotiating trails, traveling in dugout canoes, and grappling with questions of biological and cultural survival will help us address future human and environmental issues.
In-country Fee: $1950.
Read the full course description:
PROJECT LEADER
BRET BLOSSER is an anthropologist and field biologist. He has designed and taught cultural and environmental fieldstudy programs in the wildlands of Belize, Guatemala, Hawaii and the American Southwest.