ECOTOURISM AND CONSERVATION IN AMAZONIAN PERU - SHORT-TERM AND LONG-TERM CHALLENGES

Several authors have suggested that ecotourism can enhance the value o f intact wildlands and thereby promote conservation. Two rainforest lo dges dating from the 1970s and located in southeastern Amazonian Peru have been held up as early success stories in tourism-driven conservat ion, but a more recent assessment reveals that both lodges have since lost their rainforest reserves to encroachment. One of the major reaso ns for failure was that the national land laws in effect se the time d id not allow the purchase of land titles. Recently, Peru has institute d a process for the purchase of land titles in the rainforest. One lod ge has used the new land tenure laws with some success to create a rai nforest reserve. The very attempt to buy land for purposes of conserva tion can promote encroachment and land-buying speculation, and the lod ge's current agreement with its neighbours to provide a school in exch ange for non-encroachment is fraught with moral hazards and appears un stable over the long term. Tourism can promote conservation primarily at the national level, and ecotourism projects in the Peruvian Amazon can stabilize land-use patterns at least in the short term. However, t he conservation of habitat over the long-term will rest primarily an t he ability of the State to enforce a consistent land use policy with r egard to land tenure and Park protection.