Colibri Cloudforest
Colibri Cloudforest, Peru: Project Overview
Project Summary
Rainforest Partnership has been involved in the Pampa Hermosa region with the communities of San Antonio and Calabaza since April 2008. Along the unpaved roads leading up to San Antonio and Calabaza, deforestation is widespread with many communities cutting down the forest in order to plant crops or create pastureland. Despite deforestation in neighboring communities, San Antonio and Calabaza have decided to keep their forest standing, creating the opportunity for the Colibri Cloudforest, Pampa Hermosa region to become an “ecotravel” destination.
Rainforest Partnership is working to help these two communities reach this goal by developing infrastructure to support ecotourism. The Colibri Cloudforest is extremely biodiverse and its beautiful natural attractions are easily accessible to visitors, but without basic tourism infrastructure its ecotourism potential will not be realized. This project and the development of an ecotourism site will prevent deforestation, provide reliable, long-term income for hundreds of community members, and preserve one of the most biologically diverse regions on the planet.
The Partnership
Rainforest Partnership has several key partners in the Colibri Cloudforest project:
- Municipal Government of Pampa Hermosa
- Gunnar Engblom of Kolibri Expeditions
- The University of Central Peru
Achievements
One of the first achievements of the project is forest conservation. In 2009, San Antonio and Calabaza made a commitment to conserve the cloudforest in which they live. To protect the forest, the communities prohibited the collection of butterflies and orchids, the hunting of birds and bears, the extraction of wood, and the cutting and burning of forests for pasture. Another key achievement is that in September 2010, the community completed the renovation and furnishing of a new hostel and welcomed their first group of tourists, led by Gunnar Engblom. Finally, the community has also taken many steps forward in livelihood improvement: the community has initiated a trash collection and recycling system, they have held several community clean up days, and modern public bathroom facilities have been installed.
Goals
In the next phase of the project, RP will focus on building an ecolodge in Calabaza in order to bring more tourists and birding enthusiasts to the area. RP will also training community members on how to manage the hostel and ecolodge, on how to use sanitary conditions when cooking for tourists, and on how to work as local tour guides. Finally, RP will work on creating partnerships with local and foreign universities to conduct further research of the biodiversity of the region.
