Annual Report 2013
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Annual Report 2013 ©Proyecto Mono Tocón First published 2014 Jr. Reyes Guerra, 422 Moyobamba, Perú Text by Jan Vermeer Design and composition by Jan Vermeer and Antonio Bóveda Photography by Proyecto Mono Tocón All rights reserved. Information from this publication may be reproduced, but preferably with the prior permission of the Proyecto Mono Tocón association. he year 2013 has again been a year with much expansion of the activities of Proyecto Mono Tocón. Despite all efforts by local communities, authorities and non-governmental organisations, the situa- T tion of the San Martin titi monkey (Callicebus oenanthe) is critical. There is an ever increasing hu- man pressure on its habitat and little of its forest remains. We are supporting several local communities with the conservation of their forest, home of the San Martin titi monkey. But the question that keeps us occupied is if this is enough to safe the species from extinction. Without more political involvement, it will be very difficult to create safe havens for viable populations of titi monkeys. The Regional Government of San Martin will have to review their intentions for the territory and decide if it would not be better to change the designation of many thousands of hectares of production forest into in conservation areas. Our conservation work concentrates on the Central Huallaga area, as this is the region where we still can find the titi monkey’s habitat and maybe even more important, local communities that want to protect their forest. To better understand the needs of the titi monkeys, we have started in 2013 several long term research pro- grammes, focussing on titi monkey densities in different types of forest and on (feeding) behaviour. These studies will be continued in 2014 for comparisons. Although the conservation of the San Martin titi monkey remains our principal goal, we conducted additional studies on the other primates of the San Martin Region, including the critically endangered yellow-tailed woolly monkey (Lagothrix flavicauda), and the San martin mountain uakaris (Cacajao calvus ssp.). We even made an expedition to central Peru, to study the taxonomy and distribution of titi monkeys and other primate species that live in that region. The results are important to understand the evolution of all primate species in Peru and will help other organisations with the conservation of primates. Local interest for forest conservation is increasing. Communities hear about the work Proyecto Mono Tocón is doing with their neighbours, and come to us to ask for support. We were pleased to see how many zoos and other organisations have joined in 2013 Proyecto Mono Tocón in our struggle to protect the wildlife of Peru. Their mor- al and financial help is indispensable if we want to continue to support local communities and the (regional) government with the conservation of San Martin’s nature. In this report we summarise our activities of 2013. Please do not hesitate to contact us for additional infor- mation. Thank you all for your continuing support. Jan Vermeer, Project Director Vicky Pérez Tello, President Local team in 2012 (left to right) Julio C. Tello Alvarado Victoria Pérez Tello Eder Murrieta Villabos Margarita Del Aguila Mejía Administration Alexander Amasifuén Pérez Mercy Del Aguila Pinedo Administration NGO-D ment is that we now have “fast” internet, which safes us much time. For our different projects, especially for the behavioural studies, we need the Since September 2010 the Proyecto Mono Tocón is registered as a help of students and volunteers. They work for free, but those that do NGO-D(evelopment) in the registers of the Peruvian Agency for not live nearby need lodging. Therefore we rented a spacious house International Cooperation (APCI). In February we held the annual with several rooms. Some of the foreign volunteers pay for the room. meeting of the board, with four of the five board members being present. All employees of Proyecto Mono Tocón that are not part of the board Personnel were also invited. During the meeting we reviewed the preceeding year Victoria Pérez Tello is heading the Conservation department. She is also and approval de plans for 2013. the President of the NGO. Julio C. Tello Alvarado continued coordinating Financial administration our Research department and is the treasurer of the NGO. Alexander Amasifuén Pérez is leading our Education department. Mercy Del Agui- Our new external accountant continues to help us with the improvement la Pinedo works with Victoria and Alexander on the Education and Con- of our financial administration. The full financial reports are available to servation departments, and is responsible for tasks as communication, organisations that financially support Proyecto Mono Tocón. sustainable development and volunteers. Eder Murrieta Villalobos joined Research permits Julio on the Research department and is responsible for the ICAM pro- ject. In 2012 we received a research permit for a period of five years, there- Although we have organized the association in three departments, all fore no time had to be invested in making a new application, as had to team members collaborate in the execution of our projects, each of them be done in the preceding years. often including education, research and the initiation of conservation In August we also received the new permit to study primates in the measures. Bosque de Protección Alto Mayo, a project tin collaboration with Conser- As mentioned before, Proyecto Mono Tocón has a large group of stu- vation International Peru. dents and volunteers that help our team with their activities. Office and House The project is coordinated by Antonio J. Bóveda Penalba, since the be- Due to the large number of volunteers and students the office is on ginning involved in the project. To make his work for the Proyecto Mono some days, when few are in the field, almost too small. A good improve- Tocón possible, he founded the Spanish NGO Sugkamat. His work is Volunteers Through the years, the numbers of requests of people who wanted to volunteer for the project has increased. This year we implemented a vol- unteer programme for Peruvian and foreign volunteers. Foreign volun- teers that stay shorter than three months will have to pay a fee, which is used to pay the rent of the house. We always try to have a mix of paying and free volunteers, to have minimal rental costs. Volunteers are not just a help to our team, but some of them have special skills and experiences that increase the professional development of our team members and other volunteers. Organisational chart for 2013 partly remunerated, but much additional voluntary time is invested in the project. Further help with the coordination comes from Noelia Venegas Martin, also member of NGO Sugkamat. Audrey Gaultier, employed by Le Conservatoire pour la Protection des Primates, assists us in preparing funding applications. Jan Vermeer, Director of the Proyecto Mono Tocón and President of Le Conservatoire pour la Protection des Primates, coordinates the project on a voluntary basis and has the final responsibility. Conservation areas Conservation Areas Alto Mayo region 1.247 hectares and includes primary and secondary humid rainforest. The management is in hands of the local authorities, and Proyecto Mono Tocón supports as a member of the working group, the manage- ment of the area. View of Morro de Calzada Morro de Calzada Since 2009 the Morro de Calzada has been the focus of our conserva- tion initiatives. Forest is rapidly disappearing in the Alto Mayo Valley and conservation is very difficult due to the high number of people living in the area. Earlier surveys showed that there are many San Martin titi monkeys living in the forest on the Morro de Calzada, and its protection is very important for their survival. The site is also popular with tourists, as it offers a great viewpoint over the Alto Mayo Valley. Since Mai 2012 Morro de Calzada is officially registered as a “Zona de Pro- tección y Conservación Ecológica (ZOCRE)”. The total protected area is Conservation Areas Bajo Mayo region In the lower Mayo region we work with two communities that want to Conservation Concession Pailayco – Villaneuva protect relics of the rare dry forest that once was more common in Peru but that has almost disappeared. The dry forest habitat is home many With the members of the local conservation association that is managing uncommon animal species (especially birds, plants and amphibians) CC Ojos de Agua we discussed the need to expand our conservation and San Martin titi monkeys (Callicebus oenanthe). Titi monkey are work to the neighbouring communities, to increase the protected area elsewhere mostly encountered in humid forest and it is interesting that and to decrease the human pressure on Ojos de Agua. Thanks to the they can also survive in this habitat where many trees are deciduous. association we came into contact with the “Asociación de Conservación Ecológica Comunal los Bosques de Pailayco” in the small town of Villa- Conservation Concession Ojos de Agua – El Bosque del neuva. They were in the process of creating a conservation area of Futuro some 800 hectares, connected to Ojos de Agua, but needed technical and financial support from Proyecto Mono Tocón. This Conservation Concession was created in 2010 and covers 2,400 Our team organised several workshops to train the members of the as- hectares. In 2013 our activities for Ojos de Agua involved a density sociation in all matters concerning nature conservation and the manage- study and environmental education, including the work with the youth’s ment of a conservation concession. nature club. This club, with the name “Jóvenes Pucacaquinos Em- prendedores para Conservar el Ambiente”(JOPECA) will come together There were some boundary conflicts, but these have all been resolved.