Conservation International Peru
Conservation International Peru is the Peru country programme of Conservation International. It began working in Peru in 1989 and is headquartered in Lima, with offices in Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado and Rioja.
Its work in Peru has included support for protected-area management and forest conservation in the Alto Mayo Protection Forest through conservation agreements linked to voluntary-market REDD+ finance, alongside conservation-finance initiatives focused on the Peruvian Amazon.
History
Conservation International began working in Peru in 1989 and established its headquarters in Lima, with additional offices in Pucallpa, Puerto Maldonado and Rioja.In September 2023, Peru, the United States and four non-governmental organisations - Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, Wildlife Conservation Society and World Wildlife Fund - finalised a debt-for-nature swap and forest-conservation agreements under the Tropical Forest and Coral Reef Conservation Act, redirecting more than US$20 million in debt-service payments over 13 years to a conservation fund intended to provide grants for forest conservation, improved natural-resource management and sustainable livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon; Profonanpe was named as the initial grants administrator.
In 2023, the Green Climate Fund approved project preparation funding to develop a funding proposal intended to scale communal-reserve co-management with Indigenous organisations in the Peruvian Amazon, listing Conservation International as the accredited entity and CI Peru as the proposed lead executing entity for proposal development.
Activities by location
Lima (national programmes)
Conservation International Peru is headquartered in Lima.National-level conservation-finance and climate-related initiatives linked to the programme's work have included TFCCA implementation structures designed to channel debt-service payments into grantmaking for conservation and sustainable livelihoods in the Peruvian Amazon, with Profonanpe identified as the initial grants administrator.
In 2025, TFCCA-linked grantmaking under the Bosques Tropicales fund awarded 19 initiatives, including nearly half led by women. Regional reporting on the fund's calls described eligible landscapes and provinces across southern Amazon regions and set out two funding modalities, including smaller grants for shorter initiatives and larger multi-year grants for landscape-scale interventions.
A conservation-finance workstream linked to the programme has included the Alianza Empresarial por la Amazonía, a platform framed around promoting economic development and supporting entrepreneurship in Amazon regions through partnerships and investment mobilisation. AEA-linked "biocréditos" have been described as financial products directed to micro and small enterprises in biodiversity-linked value chains in Amazon regions, implemented with municipal savings banks and framed around sustainable production and conservation outcomes.
San Martín Region (Rioja and Alto Mayo)
Conservation International Peru maintains an office in Rioja.Alto Mayo Protection Forest (Bosque de Protección Alto Mayo)
The Alto Mayo Protection Forest covers about 182,000 hectares and has been the focus of a conservation and climate-mitigation initiative combining protected-area management with community engagement and incentive-based conservation agreements, generating voluntary-market emission reductions under standards used in the carbon market.The programme involved more than 960 beneficiary families.
In May 2017, San Martín governor Víctor Noriega said: "Nadie puede entrar al Bosque Alto Mayo". In 2017, Peru had more than a thousand conservation agreements in protected natural areas.
International investigations into voluntary carbon offsets have linked Alto Mayo carbon-credit purchases to corporate climate-claim strategies and disputes over estimated avoided deforestation relative to the volume of credits issued under the project's crediting approach.
Ucayali (Pucallpa)
Conservation International Peru maintains an office in Pucallpa.In Ucayali, CI Peru has participated in conservation agreements involving the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado through the Reserva Comunal El Sira, its co-management partner ECOSIRA and the Comunidad Nativa Atahualpa de Tabacoa, linked to support for the women's association Wexa Beka, which produces crafts with Shipibo identity near the reserve.
Madre de Dios (Puerto Maldonado)
Conservation International Peru maintains an office in Puerto Maldonado.Work in Madre de Dios has included activities in a conservation concession referred to as Rodal Semillero Tahuamanu, framed around monitoring phenology and regeneration and supporting management of seed trees of commercially valuable species including mahogany and cedar.