The Amazonian and Andean regions of South America are home to some of the richest biodiversity on the planet. Of the top ten ‘megadiverse’ countries in the world, six are in Central/South America. Four of these countries house part of the Andes, and five house part of the Amazon rainforest (Hyatt 2014).
Peru is home to one of the most geographically and biologically diverse landscapes in South America. Coastal beaches, desert, mountains, and rainforest can all be found within this country’s borders. Due to this rich diversity, however, the different regions of Peru are slightly isolated from one another. These divisions have lead to various problems in the past, and continue to be an issue today, particularly for the environment.
This November, Peruvian president Ollanta Humala signed a decree designating a massive area of the Amazon jungle a new national park.1 Sierra del Divisor National Park, whose an area of 5,470 square miles is greater than the United States’ Yellowstone and Yosemite National Parks combined, connects two protected areas on either side of it to finally link together the Andes-Amazon Conservation Corridor.2,3 The green corridor now protects 67 million contiguous acres of pris
