Oxford University Exploration Club

In 2000, the 12 South American Governments launched the IIRSA Initiative (South-American Infrastructure Integrative Initiative), with the back up of several national and international financial bodies. This initiative included the promotion of 10 axes of integration around 335 development projects with a total budget of 37.5 billion dollars. Among the IIRSA’s proposed activities, one currently under development is the Inter-Oceanic Highway (IOH) between Brazil and Peru. This highway is a transcontinental roadway that crosses the Amazon Basin and links the Pacific and the Atlantic coasts of South-America. The Peruvian part consists of three roads that link the port cities of Ilo, Matarani and San Juan de Marcona on the southern Pacific coast of Peru, with the Amazonian state of Acre in Brazil. Main activities in Peru consist of the construction, rehabilitation, and paving of 2,586 km of roads between the small town of Iñapari on the Peruvian border with Brazil, and those three Pacific harbours.The Peruvian part of the IOH traverses some of the best-preserved, biodiversity rich, areas of Madre de Dios, in the western Peruvian Amazon, and some of the still well preserved ecosystems on the eastern-tropical-Andean slopes. With a strong representation of international conservation organizations, the tropical Andes are a hotspot of biodiversity, hosting 15% of all plant species on Earth, half of them endemic, and are suffering from a myriad of pressures, both anthropogenic (e.g. mining, deforestation, oil drilling, development projects, human migrations, wildlife trading, etc) and climatic: main climate models predict a 4 ºC temperature increase by 2100 and unprecedented challenges to the conservation of the region. At a national level, the Andean region under study forms part of the biological corridor Vilcabamba-Amboro that comprises 30 million hectares (6 times the area of Costa Rica), and extends from the Vilcabamba mountains in southern Peru to the Amboro National Park in Bolivia.

In spite of the pressures that this infrastructure project brings to the region, the IOH was approved, has been financed, and has been initiated without accounting for the corresponding environmental and social impact assessments. Among the reason behind this lack of assessments, one relates to the remoteness and access difficulties to the region (both Amazonian and Andean areas). From a biological point of view, while the region’s isolation has favoured its conservation, it has also jeopardized its research, making it one of the least studied areas in Peru. In this sense, the IOH represents as much a challenge as an opportunity. Taking advantage of this opportunity, and in cooperation with Peruvian botanists, we propose to perform an orchid inventory along the Transects II and IV of the Inter-Oceanic Highway to learn about the orchid diversity in this Andean region, mainly concentrating on montane cloud forests where the diversity of orchids is known to be higher, but also collecting on the high-Andean Puna grasslands and on the lower evergreen rainforests, that form part of transects II and IV.

Out of the scope of this expedition but as its legacy, the orchid data gathered in this proposal will be the starting point of two new projects: 1) A digital orchid vulnerability map to navigate conservation priorities in the area, and 2) a project to develop an Orchid Ecotouristic Proposal based on local orchid nurseries and orchid corridors that will contribute to the sustainable development of the region.

EXPEDITION UPDATE

SEPTEMBER 2008

After a wonderful field season in the InterOceanic Highway we are getting back with several good news. First refers to our successful trip with approximately 100 different orchid species (102 we believe) in flower, in winter (!). We have identified 3 potentially new species (one of them, Telipogon manucensis will be briefly submitted for publication. The other two are still under the specialists’ review). Some informal pictures can be seen at:

http://pa.photoshelter.com/c/quintinlake/gallery-show/G0000969YXyt8Fhw

The second good news refers to an exhibition at the Canning House, London, with a Private View on the 12th of November. We are currently getting in touch with the Peruvian Embassy to invite them to this event and see if they can support our catering during the expedition. We would be extremely pleased if
you could join us to this event.

http://www.canninghouse.com/content/culture/event/96/

The third good news refers to our connection with personnel from Duke University who are working on an ecotourism plan in the InterOceanic, and their connection with a team of the National Geographic who were shooting a documentary of the IOH while we were there. Watch some of it on-line at:

http://www.acrosstheamazon.com.br/site/

http://br.youtube.com/mariaemiliacoelho (brazilian reporter working on the Inter-Oceanic Highway)

We have just contacted them and are looking for the best way to share some of our orchid data with them. This DukeUniversity team are pushing forward a proposal with PromPeru (Peruvian Tourism Administration) to promote the IOH as an ecotouristic destination. Our orchid data will also be included.

We are currently identifying all our orchids and will very soon send you a pdf with all photos and their taxonomical identification and keep you posted with our post-expedition activities.

With our best wishes

The Orchid Peruvian Team