Promoting Master Plan for the Environmental Management and Handling of Pantanos de Villa

(Lima, October 2008). The Andean Development Corporation (CAF) approved a technical cooperation agreement for developing a “Master Environmental Management and Handling Program for the Pantanos de Villa (Villa Swamps),” which will provide timely support for implementation of the most important planning instrument of this protected area.

The agreement, which contemplates granting non-reimbursable resources, was signed by Eleonora Silva Pardo, CAF’s director in Peru, and Franco Fernández Santa María, technical director of PROHVILLA, a decentralized agency of Lima Municipality in charge of managing and administering this natural ecosystem.

Silva stressed that this master plan will permit implementation of programs including flora and fauna population handling techniques as well as the monitoring of contamination levels of the waters of the aquifer. It will also make it possible to draw up inspection and control programs in the area of the natural ecosystem and its buffer zone.

Furthermore, it will allow them to develop plans for tapping natural resources in a manner that is sustainable and for the benefit of the nearby population and also to design recreation areas and ecotourism routes for the population in general.

“The plan will define areas for investigation, education, recreation, and intangibles that will guarantee the development of the Natural Area. Besides that, the design of an environmental education program to raise the awareness of the local student population will be coordinated with the Ministry of Education,” he added.

In addition, it will make it possible to draw up the Business Plan aimed at developing the Pantanos de Villa, focusing on strengthening its privileged conditions that make it ideal for bird watching.

“The technical cooperation granted thanks to the efforts of CAF’s Environmental Department will make it possible to work in favor of the Pantanos de Villa, the only natural ecosystem with these characteristics that Metropolitan Lima has,” explained Silva.

The Pantanos de Villa cover an area of 263.27 hectares consisting of common cattail (Typha latifolia) beds, seagrass beds, open plains, sands and lakes that make up the Peruvian coast’s Biological Corridor. For that reason it has enormous scientific, educational, and recreational value. These wetlands are an integral part of the Migratory Corridor used by numerous species of birds throughout the neotropical region. They were classified as a Wildlife Refuge in 2006. Also, on September 4, 1998, they were declared a Natural Area under Municipal Protection by municipal ordinance Nº 184, thus turning them into a wildlife refuge for the protection and conservation of wildlife, cultural development, and recreation for the metropolitan area; and PROHVILLA was created. On January 20, 1997, the Pantanos de Villa were include as part of the RAMSAR Convention on Wetlands, whose mission is “the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local, national, and regional actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world.”