The Development and Growth of Non-Governmental Conservation in Peru: Privately and Communally Protected Areas

While legislation for the creation of protected areas in Peru has existed since the 1960s, legislation relating to privately and/or communally protected areas (PCPAs) dates only to the early 2000s, from which point the number of PCPAs has grown rapidly. We examine the growth of PCPAs in Peru, the laws key to their creation, and the actors who have shaped them, highlighting where national-level data obscures local dynamics that have driven or sustained their growth. Combined with ethnographic research in the region of San Martin, we show that while PCPAs have spread through processes of conservation contagion, increasing legal and economic requirements, lack of support, and negative interactions with state agents are discouraging local conservationists. At the same time, the promotion of conservation as an economic opportunity is encouraging foreign interest in developing market-based projects, risking increasing exclusion of local populations and ongoing sustainability of PCPAs in Peru.