The Reserve is located in south-eastern Peru, in the provinces of Manu and Paucartambo, departments of Madre de Dios and Cusco, respectively. The total area encompasses 1.9 million hectares (19.000 sq. km). The Park was created in 1973 and in the same year the Man and Biosphere Programme of UNESCO approved the declaration of the Manu Biosphere Reserve which includes the National Park and the core area. The original boundaries of the Reserve include the entire Manu river basin and the left band of the Alto Madre de Dios River.

The Park (the Biosphere Reserve's Core Zone) covers an area of 1.5 million hectares (15,000 sq. km), its largest portion lying in the Madra de Dios department and a smaller part in the department of Cusco. The Amazon lowland tropical rain forest in Madre de Dios is considered as the region with most biological diversity among the world's protected areas.

The Manu Project was started in 1989 as the result of a number of workshops held with local people during the previous two years. This initial phase, funded by WWF-US, concentrated on activities to provide basic services to the inhabitants of the area, as well as farming activities at an experimental level in Palotoa - Llactapampa. A third important component of this initial phase was the provision of equipment to the Park, including radios, solar panels, outboard motors and a boat.

In the sectors Kcosnipata and Atalaya-Boca Manu, where the principal economic activity is the artesanal extraction of forestry products, the project is promoting forest management. As a result, there is a great demand in some localities, such as Itahuania, to initiate forestry management actions. The proposals for Phase II of the project will give greater emphasis to forest management, and how this can contribute to development in these sectors.

At present the management of the MNP is confronted by problems which originate from:

* Illegal timber extraction (Castillo, Tono, Palotoa and Guadalupe).

* Uncontrolled burning of grasslands in the high Andean zone.

* Unauthorised and illegal expeditions in search of archaeological remains (Pini-Pini, Mamaria, Pusharo and Callanga).

* Illegal hunting and extraction of flora.

*Dual land ownership in some border areas of the Park (in the sector Callanga and Pastogrande).

To contribute to the long-term biodiversity conservation of the MBR through the protection and management of the MNP.

To promote the sustainable use of natural resources in the buffer and transitional zone of MBR in order to improve the quality of life of the user groups. It will reduce the damaging pressure to the MNP.

• To strengthen the administrative capacity of MNP and MRZ through the improvement of the infrastructure, equipment and training. This will ensure the presence of the Peruvian State in the Park and its Transitional Zone.
• To promote regulations and legal procedures which will contribute to the conservation of natural resources and the establishment of other protected areas in the region.
• To encourage and promote the planning of the MNP, the MRZ and other protected areas that could be established in the Region.
• To establish a set of sustainable development uses to demonstrate the feasibility of using forest and other natural resources in a sustainable way within the frame of an integrated development in the transition zones of protected areas.
• Encourage the use of appropriate technology in the use and transformation of renewable natural resources.
• To promote the regulation of land tenure and planning in the transitional zone of the MBR.
• To support identification of key conservation species of the Park and their management in order to promote the biodiversity conservation.
• To reinforce and enhance educational campaigns (to stakeholders) to promote the sustainable use of natural renewable resources as well as a better understanding of the importance of the natural protected areas conservation.
• To encourage the participation of the local people in activities related to the organisation and planning in order to improve their quality of life. The project will emphasise the participation of women in these activities.
• To have a better knowledge of MBR. For this reason, a diagnosis of the socio-economic condition will be carried out. Participatory Rural Appraisal Workshops (TERPs) will be one of the tools to identify the needs of local communities.