Protected natural areas are among the most effective tools for in situ biodiversity conservation at the global level. For this reason, WCS Peru supports both the establishment and effective management of protected areas, as well as other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs) that complement Peru’s broader conservation systems.
 
We promote adaptive management to achieve effective protected area governance, including planning, surveillance and control, sustainable resource use, monitoring, learning, and continuous improvement. We work at multiple levels: supporting the National System of Natural Protected Areas and Regional Conservation Systems, and directly assisting the management of individual protected areas under national or regional administration, including OECMs. 

Our conservation strategy

1. National System of Natural Protected Areas: We support planning and monitoring through the development of tools and management instruments that help improve effectiveness, with attention to representativeness, structure, and functionality. We also provide technical support in creating conceptual frameworks, methodologies, tools, and capacities for planning, surveillance and control, monitoring, learning, and adaptation in regionally managed protected areas.

2. Regional Conservation Systems: We contribute to the development and consolidation of regional conservation systems, particularly in Loreto and Puno. We promote a landscape-level approach that integrates national protected areas, regional conservation areas (ACRs), and other conservation models existing in each region. We also strengthen the capacities of area managers from both government and civil society and develop tailored planning, surveillance, monitoring, and evaluation tools suited to the social and environmental contexts of each region.

3. Other effective area-based conservation measures (OECMs): To help Peru meet the 30 by 30 conservation goal, we promote the identification, evaluation, and reporting of existing OECMs. We aim for all units under different conservation modalities to have solid and equitable governance, effective management, and tangible conservation outcomes. We manage the Lago Preto Paredón Conservation Concession in the Yavarí basin in Loreto, which we seek to establish as a model of effective OECM management.