Creation of the Sierra del Divisor National Park is one step closer today.

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By Dr. Paul Salaman, CEO Rainforest Trust

We are delighted to report that the Minister of the Environment of Peru, Manuel Pulgar-Vidal Otaróla, has presented the case for the establishment of the Sierra del Divisor National Park at the weekly inter-departmental meeting of Peru’s ministers and the President of Peru today.

After approval by Peru’s ministers, the permanent declaration of the new park will then just be pending the final approval and signature of Peru’s President, Ollanta Humala.

Rainforest Trust’s Peruvian conservation partner CEDIA has been working for two years to create the Sierra del Divisor National Park and has importantly secured the support of indigenous communities surrounding the proposed park. Since May, CEDIA has highlighted the area’s conservation importance in various media outlets, including television and newspapers.

CEDIA also hosted a major event the second week of July for all the local communities of the Tapiche and Blanco rivers involving the regional government of Loreto that drew attention to the need to designate the Sierra del Divisor a national park.

Climbing from an immense plain of unbroken rainforest, the Sierra del Divisor Mountain Range stretches more than 600 miles along the Peru-Brazil Border in the heart of the Amazon Basin.

Complete with plunging waterfalls, dormant volcanic cones, wild rivers, pristine forests and uncontacted tribes, this largely unknown and unexplored range is one of the Amazon’s last true wildernesses. The region, which is home to a biological community rich in rare and threatened species, is one of the highest conservation priorities in Peru.

The Sierra del Divisor, however, faces imminent threats from oil and mining development, road and pipeline construction, over-fishing and illegal logging. Unchecked, these threats could destroy the area in a matter of years.

To permanently protect the Sierra del Divisor and the biodiverse lands surrounding it, Rainforest Trust is working with CEDIA to establish protected areas and indigenous reserves that will span 5.9 million acres.

To learn more visit Rainforest Trust’s Sierra del Divisor project page.