Implementing Agency:
Department For International Development (PAND)

Managing Institute:
WWF (World Wide Fund for Nature)

Contractor:
Instituto de Desarrollo y Medio Ambiente (IDMA)

Project Code: 122-680-037	Start Date: 01-Apr-95	End Date: 31-Mar-98
Commitment: £108,000	Status: Awaiting Confirmation of Completion	Type of Funding: Bilateral - JFS

Project Background:
The sub-basin of the Marino river, a tributary of the Pachachaca, belongs, politically, to the Apurimac Sub-Region and is contained within the Inka Region. It extends over an area of 370 Km2, ie: 10.72% of the Abancay province. Over the last 15 years the city of Abancay has experienced a population explosion, from 15,000 to more than 55,000 inhabitants, this being one of the highest growth rates in the country. This strong rural migration towards the city of Abancay is the result of the political and economic problems of the last few years.

Located inside this sub-basin of the Marino River is the Ampay Forest Sanctuary (AFS), one of 44 areas protected by the State of Peru. Despite its importance as the principal water supply, both for drinking and irrigation purposes for the population of neighbouring centres, including the city of Abancay, the AFS has to date received only very limited support from government bodies responsible for its protection.

At the level of the sub-basin, the principal problems connected with the conservation of natural resources are soil erosion, deforestation, and unproductive agricultural practices resulting from inappropriate agricultural techniques and the progressive degradation of the soil. Furthermore, the disorderly and excessive growth of the city of Abancay and its adjoining centres acts as a catalyst to the deterioration and exhaustion of the natural resources as more land is required for urban areas and agricultural plots, as well as firewood for businesses and domestic stoves.

This project seeks to integrate conservation of the natural resources on which the population directly depends, and to complement the support obtained from other donors, with the aim of reinforcing and intensifying activities related to environmental education and, above all, socio-economic development, as well as those aimed at improving the quality of life of the inhabitants.

Project Objectives:
To conserve one of the last Peruvian native forests of the endangered Podocarpus Glomeratus for scientific research, public education, tourism, and to regulate use of the Marino sub-basin.

To encourage sustainable development of the Marino sub-basin so that the quality of life of user groups within the buffer zone is improved and the damaging pressure on the forest is reduced.

To achieve maximum understanding by local populations and user groups of the problems encountered in natural resource conservation and to ensure adequate public and private response to address these problems.

Intended Outputs:
Promote the recuperation and conservation of the Sanctuary and to raise public awareness of its importance as one of the main sources of water in the Marino sub-basin.

Strengthen administrative capacity of the Sanctuary through provision of equipment and trained human resources.

Formulate a participatory management plan for the Sanctuary.

Implement a set of activities and demonstration models with local communities in order to demonstrate the feasibility of using the forest and its natural resources in a sustainable way.

Increase income of people in the buffer zone by improving their existing agricultural systems through technical and financial support.

Promote appropriate technology in order to optimise the use of renewable natural resources, so as to make the work at home of women and children easier.

Encourage the organised participation of women in activities related to natural resource management.

Gender awareness promotion among NGOs and GOs working on development.

Empower beneficiaries by training them in productive issues.

Intensify dissemination and education campaigns targetting local people, user groups, government units and trading organisation, focussing on the value of natural protected areas and raising awareness of the need to use natural resources in a sustainable manner.

Develop and diversify funding sources for conservation and development in the Sanctuary and its surroundings on a medium and long term basis.