Yacutayta
The Pacaya Samiria National Reserve
The Peruvian system of National Natural Protected Areas (SINANPE) was created by Supreme Decree N° 010-90-AG for the purpose of giving Peru an efficient instrument to conserve its bio-diversity and to guarantee Peruvians that they would benefit economically from their environment.
In 1982, through Supreme Resolution (D.S.016-82 AG) the borders of the PSNR were established as an area of 2,080,000 hectares in the provinces of Loreto, Requena, Ucayali and the High Amazon of the Loreto Region. The reserve is also a protected area under the Ramsar Convention (Ramsar, Iran, 1971), an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable utilization of wetlands, and especially waterfowl. It was designed to stem the progressive encroachment on and loss of wetlands now and in the future, recognizing the fundamental ecological functions of wetlands and their economic, cultural, scientific, and recreational value.
The PSNR is located at the headwaters of the Amazon River in the northeastern part of Peru, on a flood plain between the Marañon and Ucayali Rivers. It can be reached via the Amazon from the city of Iquitos in the Loreto Department of northern Peru, or through Tarapoto, in the San Martin Department. In its interior, there are three distinct water basins: the Samiria, Pacaya and Yanayacu-Pucate.
Fish are the most important resource in the Reserve, for their ecological and economic value, and as the main food source for the local population.
The reserve has a high average annual temperature ranging from 20.01 ºC to 33.1 ºC and abundant precipitation, between 2,000 and 3,000 mm annually. These factors, along with the high humidity and the seasonal flooding and ebbing of the river, allow an enormous richness of animal and plant life to thrive in the reserve: to date, over 400 avian species, 97 mammal species, 55 types of amphibians, 259 fish species and over 1,000 types of plants have been counted.
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