ASB-Peru National Consortium
The ASB-Peru National Consortium comprises 5 international organizations working alongside a number of national institutes.
The ASB-Peru National Consortium started work in Peru in 1994 at 2 different sites: Ucayali and Yurimaguas in the Peruvian Amazon. Researchers have quantified the environmental and socio-economic impacts of land use change at these 2 sites.
The Ucayali benchmark site covers approximately 1.6 million hectares of tropical forest biome. Fifty years of deforestation and a steadily growing population have led to a wide range of land uses in the area making it ideal for assessing the impacts of land use change. The main town in the Ucayali region, Pucallpa, experienced a 7-fold population increase from the 1960s to the mid 1990s.
Experimental agronomic research data have been collected at the Yurimaguas benchmark site for nearly 30 years. This site provides an interesting comparison with Pucallpa as here the population only doubled between 1971 and 1985.
The implications of growing populations are seen in the rapidly changing land uses around both the Ucayali and Yurimaguas urban centres.
Technology assessment and innovative practices
- Biodiversity and germplasm
- Carbon storage
Alternatives to Slash-and-Burn in Peru: Summary Report and Synthesis of Phase II
The ASB-Peru consortium has measured the environmental and socio-economic impacts of land use change in the Peruvian Amazon. It evaluated the effects of alternative land use practices with respect to:
- Climate change (greenhouse gas fluxes and carbon sequestration)
- Biodiversity (above- and belowground)
- Agronomic sustainability
- Socio-economics
Further information on ASB's research activity outputs in the Amazon can be found on ASB's publication database.