Peru’s Environmental Health Office issues Precautions in Wake of Dying Pelicans and Dolphins

No beaches and no raw fish is the Environmental Health office’s precautionary warning this week, following the death of hundreds of pelicans and dolphins along the 1,000-kilometer stretch between Piura and Lima.  

Although specialists say there is no risk involved to humans, either by going to the beach or eating fish, the warning is to prevent any possible infections from the dead animals while scientists confirm the reasons for the deaths.

Around 1,000 dolphins and more than 4,000 pelicans have died on Peruvian shores since January this year. 

Tests are being carried out at the Cayetano Heredia Environmental Sustainability Read more…

Environment Ministry, Madre de Dios To Protect Area From Mining, Deforestation

Environment Minister Ricardo Giesecke and the regional president of Madre de Dios region, Luis Aguirre Pastor, signed an agreement  last Friday to protect some 85,000 km2 of rainforest that is under threat from deforestation and illegal mining.

The agreement, signed as the government began a full-scale operation to bring illegal mining under control, seeks to strengthen environmental management and technical assistance for strategic management of natural resources.

“We will strengthen the presence of Minam (the Environment Ministry) in Madre de Dios and we will provide technical assistance in situ to the regional Read more…

Indigenous communities sign up for forest conservation program

Sixty four indigenous and rural communities in Peru have signed up to be part of a new government initiative aimed at conserving forests, state news agency Andina reported.

The initiative is led by the Environment Ministry and involves paying communities 10 soles (about $3.62) a year for every hectare of forest that is incorporated into the conservation program. 

The program will initially focus on the Apurimac and Ene river valleys (VRAE), where illegal coca cultivation has caused serious deforestation, and areas such as Satipo in Junin and the La Convencion valley in Cusco, also coca growing areas. The program will later expand nationwide. In the first year, the program, known as Juntos Amazonico, is expected to exceed the target of incorporating 300,000 hectares of forest. Read more…

Madre de Dios declares giant otter representative species

The regional government of Peru’s south-eastern Madre de Dios department has declared the giant otter a representative species of the area, paving the way for actions to conserve its habitat.

The department has 90 days to establish a conservation strategy for the giant otter and its habitat, daily El Comercio reported.

The initiative comes after the Frankfurt Zoological Society presented to the government more than 12,000 signatures calling for the declaration.

Madre de Dios’ head of foreign trade and tourism office (Dircetur) said the government has already been working on projects to protect the giant otter. One of the initiatives is to improve the areas around the department’s Sandoval and Valencia lakes, he said. Read more…

Scientists unearth 20 million year old fossilized brain in Amazonas

Peruvian scientists have unearthed a fossilized brain of a mammal that lived in the country’s northern jungle regions some 20 million years ago, daily El Comercio reported.

The fossil was found in the basin of the Santiago River in the northern department of Amazonas on May 12 by a team led by paleontologist Klaus Hönninger.

“It is the first time I’ve seen something like this, so well conserved and whole,” said Hönninger, who is the director of the Meyer Hönninger museum in Chiclayo.

It was preserved thanks to its coverage by sediment with a high level of carbonate, he added.

The fossil measures 12cm wide, 11cm long and 9cm high, which is about the size of a cow’s brain, said Hönninger. Some aspects of the fossilized brain indicate that it could have belonged to a primate, although other features support the idea that it was from a quadruped.

Germany contributes 60 mn euros to forestry conservation projects

Peru and Germany have signed a joint strategy agreement in which Germany will contribute approximately 60 million euros for forestry conservation, state news agency Andina reported.

The four-year strategy is for Sustainable Rural Development – Management of Natural Resources and Climate Change, which covers a series of projects operated by the Ministry of the Environment to protect forests and protected areas.

Environment minister Antonio Brack said the funding will ensure the continuation of projects already underway, in which the ministry will be working with indigenous communities near the protected areas to train them as park rangers.  Most of the projects are in Ayacucho, Huancavelica, Apurimac and Junin, under threat from increased coca crops as well as deforestation due to mining and farming. Read more…

Paved Inter-Oceanic Highway Jeopardizes Carbon-offset Plans

High gold prices and the resurfaced Inter-Oceanic Highway are encouraging the migration of hundreds of informal miners to Madre de Dios region in search of the precious metal, and are jeopardizing the Peruvian government’s plans for carbon-offset deals, according to a report by The Daily Climate.

Each day, some 200 informal miners from Peru’s highlands arrive in Madre de Dios, the most active alluvial gold mining region in the country where about 80 percent of the gold from informal mining is produced. Read more…

“Tyrant Leech King” found in Peru’s Amazonia

A group of international scientists from universities in the United States, Peru, and Taiwan have identified a leech first discovered in Peru’s jungle regions that burrows into nasal cavities. The scientists have named it the Tyrannobdella rex, or “tyrant leech king.”

According to a paper published this week in PLoS ONE, clinical history of the leech dates back to at least 1997 when a six-year-old boy was admitted to a health center in the San Martin department. The boy had previously bathed in local lakes and streams. Doctors removed a 25mm long leech (0.98 in) from his right nostril. Read more…

Scientists report colony of Galápagos fur seals in northern Peru

The Organization for Research and Conservation of Aquatic Animals, or Orca, says a colony of fur seals endemic to the Galápagos Islands have established a colony off the coast of northern Peru as a result of increased sea surface temperature in the region.

The colony includes 30 fur seals that traveled 1,500 kilometers, about 932 miles, from Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands to the Foca Island, located off the coast of Peru’s Piura department, daily El Comercio reported. The president of Orca, Carlos Yaipén, says the Foca colony is the first reported outside the Galápagos archipelago and due to an increase in sea temperature caused by climate change. Read more…

Peru launches immunizations campaign against rabies in jungle communities

Peru’s Health Ministry announced Wednesday ongoing immunizations against a possible outbreak of rabies in indigenous communities in the country’s north-eastern Amazonas department after the deaths of seven children bitten by bats. Read more…

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