In Peru, community-led camera trapping boosts conservation and ecotourism

The Tingana Conservation Concession sits in the center of a unique wetland in the Alto Mayo Basin, the highest swamp in Peru with Amazonian characteristics. In its flooded forest, native moriche palms (Mauritia flexuosa, known in Peru as aguaje) and renaco trees (Ficus trigona) resist the pressure of rice crops, which are expanding around the protected area.

An association of local families has been working to transform and protect the reserve’s habitat. In 2023, they began using camera traps to monitor its biodiversity “The cameras are our eyes in the forest,” says Julio César Tello, head of research at the Association for the Conservation of Alto Mayo Aguajales and Renacales (Adecaram), the community organization that has managed the area since 2004.

“They are eyes that warn us and give us information.” Adecaram members install camera traps to monitor biodiversity in the Tingana Conservation Concession. Image courtesy of Macoy Zapata. Adecaram, in collaboration with Conservation International Peru, has installed eight camera traps so far, which have recorded the presence of 66 species over the past two years.

These include wildcats like the jaguarundi (Herpailurus yagouaroundi) and margay (Leopardus wiedii), neotropical otter (Lontra longicaudis), capybara (Hydrochoerus hydrochaeris) and razor-billed curassow (Mitu tuberosum), a bird once was thought locally extinct. Dino Cabrera, the Adecaram project director, told Mongabay Latam the images have broadened scientific knowledge of the area, as well as raised awareness among local communities and tourists about the importance of preserving and protecting the habitat.

“Within the many activities we carry...This article was originally published on Mongabay