Yaguas National Park and Conservation in the Peruvian Amazon

Earlier this year, on January 12th, the Peruvian government announced the designation of South America’s newest national park. It is tucked away in the furthest north west corner of the country known as the Loreto region, just along the Columbian border where the mighty Amazon river meanders its way from Brazil. The Putumayo river, a large tributary of the Amazon serves as the main water source, creating a large, interconnected river basin where the water moves so slowly it can be difficult to discern what is truly a river. The closest town of any size is Iquitos, sometimes known as the capitol of Peruvian Amazon, that serves as the main port of trade between the area and the rest of the country. However, even from there, the park is still days journey away by any traditional mode of transportation. It is here, on a patch of land measured at over 860,000 hectares, that now sits Yaguas National Park, so named both after one of the rivers and one of the indigenous communities it protects.

Although the Amazon rain forest stretches over around 60% of the country, Yaguas National Park is unique in its unrivaled biological diversity and relatively unspoiled nature. Its designation as a national park is the culmination of decades of effort from local…