IDB Invest and American Bird Conservancy Partner to Boost Bird Tourism in Peru

In the upper Peruvian Amazon, a region of extraordinary bird diversity and breathtaking landscapes, American Bird Conservancy (ABC) and its longstanding local partner Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) are partnering with IDB Invest to strengthen a premier birding and nature-tourism corridor, the Northern Peru Birding Route. Also supported by the Amazon Bioeconomy and Forest Management Fund, the initiative seeks to develop the local economy to sustain locally led tourism businesses and communities that play a key role in bird conservation and sustainable forest management.

“Conservation without funding is just a conversation, and without local community involvement, it is a bad conversation,” said Constantino Aucca Chutas, President of ECOAN. “True impact happens when local and Indigenous peoples are meaningfully involved at every stage of the process, and that is what we look forward to doing with ABC and IDB Invest.”

Building on ABC and ECOAN’s two decades of conservation leadership in Peru, the project will operate within a mosaic of highly biodiverse landscapes surrounding five key protected areas, including the 450,000-acre Alto Mayo Protection Forest, positioned along the Northern Peru Birding Route. Well-known to serious birders, the route begins at the Pacific Coast and progresses up to around 7,500 feet into the heart of the Amazon with ecosystems made up of coastal and subtropical deserts, lowland forests, tropical dry forests, and cloud forests that harbor hundreds of bird species.

Globally recognized for its ecological uniqueness and vulnerability, the route is packed with endemic and range-restricted threatened species, including some of Earth’s rarest birds such as the Vulnerable Long-whiskered Owlet, Endangered Black-and-chestnut Eagle, and Near Threatened Maravillosa cola de espátula. These species each have populations numbering no greater than 4,200 individuals. The forests also provide winter homes for familiar aves migratorias that spend the summer in North America, including the Cerulean Warbler, Swainson’s Thrush, and Summer Tanager.

Unfortunately, habitat loss and degradation in Peru has reached critical levels in recent years. The initiative is a response to increasing pressures on Peru’s ecosystems, including illegal land occupation, agricultural expansion, and unmanaged resource extraction.

“Birds here attract visitors from all over the world, and tourism has been an important source of revenue for local communities who support and maintain their much needed habitat protections,” said Daniel J. Lebbin, ABC’s Vice President of Threatened Species. “As a result of ABC and ECOAN’s conservation successes in Peru, more and more local families are starting tourism businesses around their own birding attractions. The objective of this project is to provide financial and technical support to help scale this up.”

Local communities and rural descendants, including Indigenous Awajún groups, that already engage in conservation activities also have strong potential to lead ecotourism ventures that can be replicated to reinforce sustainable forest stewardship.

“This initiative will accomplish the creation of a scalable model for conservation that is driven from the ground up,” said Annie Hawkinson, ABC’s International Conservation Project Officer. “It strengthens local leadership, generates real data to guide decision-making, and establishes financing mechanisms that allow communities to invest in their own conservation futures. When communities are able to see measurable ecological results alongside tangible economic benefits, conservation shifts from being an external goal to a locally sustained solution that can expand across the region.”

As implementation of the initiative progresses, activities will include the deployment of ABC’s BirdsPlus Index monitoring tools for measuring biodiversity on working lands, together with community engagement, guide training programs, and a long-term sustainability plan to ensure continuity. The project will also help boost similar, ongoing efforts in other parts of the Northern Peru Birding Route, led by ECOAN and the Iniciativa Conserva Aves through support from the Bezos Earth Fund and the Government of Canada.

“With the right tools and funding, local communities are not just participants but leaders in creating effective, enduring conservation solutions,” said Aucca.

Since 2002, ABC and ECOAN have helped protect over 25,700 acres of bird habitat along the Northern Peru Birding Route, planted over 1.7 million trees and shrubs, established five reservas naturales, and developed numerous birding attractions for tourists, including the popular lodges at Abra Patricia y Huembo Reserve. Learn more about how ABC’s Gap Analysis pinpoints where conservation actions have the greatest impact, and how ABC’s BirdsPlus program unlocks larger funding streams for working lands that benefit both birds and people.