Foundation

Objectives of the Panguana Foundation

The Panguana Conservation Area, including all its primary and secondary forests as well as the research station, shall be preserved, supported, fostered and expanded in the long term.

The main aims are protection of the rainforest at Panguana, the biological, ecological and geo-scientific investigation of its biodiversity, as well as dissemination of information on this endangered habitat, in order to contribute, for example, to the conservation of nature and the climate.

The Panguana territory shall be expanded by purchasing additional lands, to create a larger reserve with buffer zones against destructive human impacts, and to provide a larger and richer study area for research.

Founded in 1968, Panguana as the oldest biological research station in Peru has become a model for the development of conservation concepts in the Peruvian rainforest. The latter, however, can be implemented successfully only if they are accepted by the respective local population. This requires continuous, broad-scale work on public awareness, especially in the surrounding schools and communities, as well as in regional and national universities and government agencies. The absolutely essential educational tasks should be performed in combination with specially designed social projects at indigenous settlements. It is highly desirable to develop jobs at the station for people living next or reasonably close to Panguana. This will offer them a meaningful alternative to generating income from short-sighted, destructive activities such as placer mining, slashing and burning, or road construction.

School groups and students from all of Peru shall be invited to Panguana to instill and foster in them a responsible environmental conscience for fragile rainforest ecosystems. Hopefully, at least some of them will then pass on these ideas and become active themselves for the conservation of nature and the climate in Amazonia.