Wake Forest University will partner with two other universities to support the work of the Peruvian National Park Service by connecting scientists with park managers and policy makers in new ways. The work is funded by a $2.5 million grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Wake Forest’s Andrew Sabin Family Center for Environment and Sustainability (Sabin Center), the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru School of Governance and Public Policy (PUCP), and Colorado State University’s Center for Protected Areas Management (CPAM) will focus on “Science and Capacity Development for Peruvian National Parks.” The project builds on the work done through a pilot grant to WFU and PUCP, also from the Moore Foundation, completed between 2020 and 2022.

The collaborative effort is connected to the Sabin Center’s broader “Science for Parks” initiative.

Peru is one of the mega diversity hotspots of the world, with 1,847 bird species (3rd in the world), over 520 species of mammals, over 620 amphibian species, and more than 20,000 species of plants. The Amazon region of the country, where nearly 25% of the geographic area is in national protected areas, holds the vast majority of this biodiversity. Peru is also rich in timber, mineral resources, and oil and gas reserves, putting protected areas under threat from extractive activities like illegal logging and mining, and from small and large infrastructure and energy projects (roads, hydropower and petroleum/natural gas). A changing climate produces additional environmental stresses.

The project, led by WFU Sabin Center Senior Fellow and Research Professor in Biology Carol Mitchell, PUCP Professor Cristina Miranda-Beas, and CPAM Director Ryan Finchum, will develop new coalitions between universities and the Peruvian National Park Service (SERNANP) to strengthen science and management capacity within the agency.