La Libertad declares conservation of dry forests and páramos a matter of regional Interest

It covers an area of 49,887.23 hectares

El Ministerio del Ambiente destacó la participación de las comunidades locales en la ejecución de fue clave en la recuperación de bosques secos de las regiones Tumbes, Piura, Lambayeque y La Libertad. ANDINA/Difusión

13:14 | Lima, oct. 22.

The conservation of the Marañón dry forests and the páramos (high-altitude moorlands) in three districts of Bolívar Province has been declared a matter of regional interest in the La Libertad region.

This is established in regional ordinance 000019-2026-GRLL-CR, issued by the La Libertad Regional Council and published in the legal regulations supplement of the official gazette, El Peruano.

The Marañón Inter-Andean Seasonally Dry Forests and the páramos included in this declaration are located within the districts of Bolívar, Longotea, and Ucuncha—all in the province of Bolívar, La Libertad—and span a total area of 49,887.23 hectares.

La Libertad is home to eight of Peru’s 21 ecoregions, including the Marañón Dry Forests and the páramos.

Forests and páramos

The Marañón Dry Forests ecoregion extends across the regions of La Libertad, Amazonas, Cajamarca, Huánuco, and Ancash, covering an area of 22,936 square kilometers.

“This ecoregion is unique within Peru and is characterized by high levels of endemic flora and fauna—species found nowhere else, either locally or globally,” the regulation states.

Among the species found only in La Libertad—and which inhabit this ecosystem—are the Marañón lizard (Polychrus jacquelinae) and a flower known as pate (Eriotheca peruviana).

As for the páramo ecoregion, it is distributed across the regions of La Libertad, Piura, Cajamarca, San Martín, Huánuco, and Lambayeque. It covers an area of 11,095 square kilometers, and the La Libertad region is home to endemic species such as the quina (cinchona).

“Both ecoregions in the department of La Libertad are of vital importance due to the species they harbor, as well as the ecosystem services they provide to local populations,” the statement notes, thereby highlighting the need for their conservation.

The issued ordinance tasks the La Libertad Regional Environmental Management Office with preparing the technical dossier for a proposed Regional Conservation Area, to be named ‘Marañón-Bolívar Inter-Andean Forests’ (Bosques Interandinos del Marañón-Bolívar), which would be located across the districts of Longotea, Ucuncha, and Bolívar.