Aguas Thermales Conservation Project

The Aguas Thermales Conservation Project

Arkaea’s mandate includes a conservation development plan for a concession site located in the province of Huanúco, Peru. In a region known as the Aguas Thermales Reserve, situated in one of Peru’s oldest oilfields, the fifty-hectare site is situated in primary rainforest and is rich in geological features and unique flora and fauna. The site has also been internationally recognised in recent years for the presence of a unique geothermal system, which includes a “boiling river” that winds seven kilometres through the forest and reaches boiling point in several places. It is also the source of an unusual saltwater river known locally as the Cachiyacu. You will also find many other fascinating features in the surrounding area, such as geysers, thermal waterfalls, and saltwater pools, as well as many fossils (such as ammonites).

We are currently in the process of a formal concession application with the government of Peru; a long and ongoing process that has been delayed by political instability. Once approved, our plan is to build a research centre where we will conduct programmes, host visitors and the local community, and an observation station to monitor the wider Aguas Thermales region in partnership with neighbouring healing centres: Santuario Huishtín and Mayantuyacu.

Arkaea Rainforest Campus

Part of our environmental plan includes future-proofing our efforts for generations to come. This would be achieved by building a strong network of participating partners (schools, institutions, businesses and organizations) that invest in creative transcultural research and ecologically focused education both locally and internationally. The site will be home to a “land-based educational project”, a living laboratory where students and visitors, locally and internationally, will collaborate on creative projects and exchange research on socially and culturally viable projects. We will have individual live/work “tambos” where visitors will be able to stay on site and develop their projects immersed in the tranquillity of the rainforest.

We also aim to serve our local community through educational initiatives that develop cultural and social development with an ecological guideline. Designated as an “ecotourism” concession (SERFOR), ecological and cultural conservation are guiding principles behind all our projects. We work with local environmental engineers and scientists who intimately understand the challenges of this unique environment and what must be done to maintain its integrity. One of our current efforts to get started is to have the site recognised as a UNESCO Geopark.

The following are the first steps in our conservation plan. We are adopting an adaptive approach, relying on ethical and transparent best practices in ecotourism, as described by the International Ecotourism Society. The strength of our approach is a network and a strong local team of dedicated professionals who have come together over time and share our ideals and goals.

Orientation

The Arkaea concession site is 50 hectares in size and is located in the province of Huanúco, near the border with Ucayali. The site can be reached via Pucallpa by air and by car along the Campoverde road, followed by a twenty-minute boat trip from the nearest town, Honoria, along the Pachitea River, a tributary of the Ucayali. From the banks of the Pachitea River, the trip consists of a walk through the forest to the Arkaea concession site. During the rainy season it is possible to take the boat down the thermal river a good part of the way.

Biome

The site is characterised by high elevation and deep ravines and cloud forests. There is a dramatic change in water elevation and animal presence between wet and dry seasons. The atmosphere tends to be wetter in the thermal river region and drier in the more deforested areas. During the rainy season, when there is more plant growth and species of animals migrate to the area. The site has many areas of tall trees that are favoured by birds and monkeys. It also has many native medicinal plants and unique flowers and fruit trees, orchids, epiphytes, lianas (vines), large ferns, jets, howlers, squirrel monkeys, brown-capped marmosets (chichicos), marmosets, sloths, tree frogs, snakes, peccaries, tapirs and big cats (jaguar, jaguarundi, ocelots) and a diverse variety of insects, including tarantulas, leaf-cutter ants and butterflies. The area attracts a wide variety of Amazonian birds such as macaws, parrots, parakeets, kingfishers, hoatzin, pootoo, toucan, hummingbirds and harpy eagles and orpendales ( tropical blackbirds famous for hanging basket-weave nests from the high canopy).

Ongoing challenges.

Overall, the site has suffered environmental damage due to the illegal timber trade that has eliminated many rare species of mature trees and encroaching agriculture (cattle ranching). The following is a summary:

Soil erosion and depletion due to deforestation and invasive cattle grazing.
Elimination of native tree and animal species due to illegal timber trade and poaching.
Potential soil and water pollution from the oil and mining industries (mercury and petroleum).
Potential water pollution and contamination of local lodges.
Impact of travellers visiting the site.

Tourism

With the growth of tourism in the area comes its own challenges. There have been problems in the past with water pollution and local logging. However, these problems are largely manageable. The recent surge of interest in the thermal river system has resulted in unregulated tourism in the area. We will create an impact study to determine the number of guests that can be accommodated without threatening the ecology and environmental apparatus of the site. We also intend to share our research with neighbours and model a positive tragedy for the revitalisation of the land in ecotourism that can be followed by others.

Environmental Plan

Our goal for the first stage of the conservation plan is an environmental assessment that will likely involve a soil test and reconstitution plan, planting of native and endangered plant and tree species, and the creation of a strategic ecosystem restoration plan to facilitate the return of native plant and animal species while protecting the habitat from future damage.

First steps:

Construct “wildlife friendly” security fencing around the entire periphery of the site and hazardous areas around the thermal river).
Hire a local guide to observe the site and maintain the vicinity.
Conduct soil testing, soil testing and create an ecosystem restoration strategy.
Clear Cachiyacu and the thermal river system of debris.
Reconstitute the soil with leguminous plants and plant fruit trees (banana, guava, aguaje, açai, etc).
Create a tourism impact study

Ongoing:

Develop an annual research programme theme dedicated to investigating issues of direct relevance to the social, cultural and environmental conservation of the region.

Create local partnerships with neighbours and local communities (through our social plan) to ensure the protection of the site.

Develop educational programmes to offer to the local community with local universities in agroforestry methods, permaculture, special crops (nuts, dyes, perfumes), use and harvesting of traditional medicine, salvage (more in our social plan) with incentives (micro grants) for small businesses (more in Arkaea Social Plan).

** UPDATE: Due to the pandemic, there has been an administrative delay at the national level with local and federal environmental agencies. We expect to receive work from the province of Huanúco on our concession project sometime in 2023-2024.

The Ecotourism Concession in Perú

The stellar growth of tourism in the last fifteen years has awakened Peru to the inherent value of its unique natural features and tourism as a powerful resource for economic development. There is a growing awareness of the environmental cost of the intensive industry to future development and the potential of land concessions as a solution. However, recent research on the problems inherent in land conservation has highlighted that a unilateral approach to rainforest conservation may be unreasonable and unsustainable. Part of the problem may be how we think about forests – seen as a resource to be exploited or as a habitat for species other than humans, forests still exist outside the human domain in our imagination. Interestingly, new archaeological research has revealed evidence in the form of ancient earthworks and terra preta (anthropogenic fertiliser composed of plant matter and bones) used by human settlements deep in the Amazon for thousands of years. It is reasonable to imagine that humans have always lived in and with forests, but lived more symbiotically, with potentially more nuanced methods of cultivation than are currently practised in industrial agriculture. With the inevitable growth of population and industry and its terrible environmental cost, we must reconsider the best ways to “live with forests”. From our perspective, ecotourism, or “eco-arts-education” in our specific case, offers us the opportunity to create an economically sustainable project while investing in our conservation ideals and goals. Studies have shown that ecotourism concessions in Perú are not only viable partners in environmental protection.

References.

Gretzinger, Steve. Latin American Experiences in Natural Forest Management Concessions Forestry Policy and Institutions Working Paper, No. 35. Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación Roma, 2016.

Kirkby, Chris y Day, Brett y Turner, R. y Filho, Britaldo y Rodrigues, Hermann y Yu, Douglas. (2011). “Cerrando el ciclo ecoturismo-conservación en la Amazonía peruana”. Conservación medioambiental. 38. 6-17.

Marquardt, Kristina., Pain, Adam., Bartholdson, Örjan., and Luis Romero Rengifo. “Dinámica forestal en la Amazonía peruana: comprensión de los procesos de cambio” Silvicultura a pequeña escala (2019) 18:81–104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11842-018-9408-3

Schroth, Götz, AB da Fonseca, Gustavo, Harvey, Celia A. Gascon, Claude, Vasconcelos, Heraldo L. and Anne-Marie N. Izac. Agrosilvicultura y Conservación de la Biodiversidad en Paisajes Tropicales Island Press, 2004.

Zinngrebe, YM 2016. “Narrativas de conservación en Perú: visualizando la biodiversidad en el desarrollo sostenible”. Ecología y Sociedad 21(2):35. http://dx.doi.org/10.5751/ES-08512-210235