In the Peruvian Amazon, nearly 20 million hectares of tropical forests and freshwater ecosystems are protected by the Ministry of the Environment’s National Protected Areas Service (SERNANP).
As the fourth largest tropical forest in the world, the health of these ecosystems, and biodiversity are crucial to our planet’s wellbeing. Yet more than half of those park leaders charged with protecting this precious territory do not have access to the scientific information necessary to manage it effectively.
Our Science for Parks program aims to change that. A partnership between the Sabin Center and SERNANP, with support from Colorado State University and Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (Catholic University of Peru), the program strategically addresses gaps in scientific capacity and staff skills for nearly 700 park rangers and the technical and administrative teams that support them.
Sabin Center Senior Fellow and Wake Forest Research Professor Carol Mitchell leads the Science for Parks program, which has been funded through 2026 thanks to a generous grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.