Profonanpe News

24/11/2024

From highlands to jungle: adventure sports in the midst of biodiversity

A historic sporting event was held at the proposed ACR San Cristobal de Pucutá Menkori.

More than 250 competitors crossed the mountains and cloud forests

of the San Cristobal de Pucutá mountain range in Satipo, Junín.

In June, the rural community of Santa Rosa de Toldopampa, in the San Cristóbal de Pucutá mountain range, Junín, was the scene of the First International Tuctuca – Satipo 2024 Cycling Competition. This event brought together more than 250 athletes who learned about the natural and cultural importance of this landscape.

The route taken by the cyclists covered a geographical area of great importance, as they rode through the proposed San Cristóbal de Pucutá – Menkori Regional Conservation Area (RCA), which thanks to its lagoons, wetlands and cloud forests is one of the main sources of water resources for the Mantaro and Perené basins. In addition, this natural area is also the habitat of emblematic species such as the spectacled bear and the yellow-tailed monkey.

This mountain range is made up of peasant and native communities that, through traditional practices, conserve their cultural values and natural resources. These are the communities with whom the Natural Resources and Environmental Management Department of the Regional Government of Junín is socializing the San Cristóbal de Pucutá – Menkori RCA Proposal. This initiative is in Stage II of its establishment process and has the technical and financial support of the Yunkawasi Civil Association, Rainforest Trust, Andes Amazon Fund and the Conserva Aves initiative.

The competitors started at more than 3500 m.a.s.l. in the high Andean zone of Satipo, and along almost 90 km. they crossed the different ecosystems of this mountain range, which also includes the area of the Avireri – Vraem and Bosques de Neblina – Selva Central Biosphere Reserves.

San Cristóbal de Pucutá – Menkori is the name of the RCA proposal that the Regional

Government of Junín is seeking to establish in the provinces of Satipo and Concepción.

“We protect our community because we are the headwaters of the watershed. The whole of Peru has to know that we care for and protect our water sources,” said Jorge Avellaneda, President of the Ronda Campesina de Santa Rosa de Toldopampa.

The community of Toldopampa was in charge of complementary activities to the event, organizing a cultural night and the ceremony of payment to the land in the Tuctuca lagoon. It also provided food and lodging services for the dozens of athletes who participated in the competition.

The event was jointly organized by the Provincial Municipality of Satipo, the District Municipalities of Pampa Hermosa and Coviriali, the rural community of Santa Rosa de Toldopampa and the cycling associations Aciper Satipo, Team Rutero Satipo, Vivencia Ride and Team Cycles Max.

The Tuctuca – Satipo 2024 International Cycling Competition has demonstrated that, with the efforts of the communities and in alliance with public and private institutions, it is possible to take advantage of landscape resources in a sustainable manner to achieve the development and well-being of local populations.

Thanks to the project “Participative Conservation of the Tropical Andes in the department of Junín – Peru”, financed by the Conserva Aves initiative and implemented by Yunkawasi in alliance with the Regional Government of Junín, we will continue to promote the involvement of local communities in conservation initiatives that value the landscape potential of the proposed San Cristóbal de Pucutá – Menkori RCA.

About Conserva Aves

Conserva Aves is the protection of territories of life. It is an innovative, bold and visionary initiative for effective nature conservation. Thanks to its versatile and dynamic essence, it adapts to each territory to guarantee the creation and sustainable management of subnational protected areas that safeguard threatened endemic and migratory birds and their habitats throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.

Conserve Birds is an inclusive strategy for conservation and the fight against climate change, for the benefit of birds, biodiversity, and present and future generations. In Peru, this mission is carried out by the Fund for the Promotion of Peru’s Protected Natural Areas (Fondo de Promoción de las Áreas Naturales Protegidas del Perú- Profonanpe), an entity specialized in raising and managing financial resources for the implementation of biodiversity conservation programs and projects, and ECOAN, a non-profit NGO dedicated to the conservation of endangered species and threatened Andean ecosystems.