The Manu Biosphere Reserve is located in the heart of the Amazonian rainforest, in the Madre de Dios Region of eastern Peru and is an integral component of the Vilcabamba Amboro Conservation Corridor (see map to the right), a thousand-kilometer-long network of protected areas that run from Machu Picchu in Peru to Amboro in central Bolivia.

Spanning over the South Eastern Peruvian Andes and down into the neotropical rainforests, the Manu Biosphere Reserve encompasses an area approximately the same size as Switzerland. Although only 70km from Cusco, the Manu Biosphere Reserve has remained relatively protected by the limited access routes.

The Manu Biosphere Reserve is comprised of several distinctive zones (see map to the right), each with a specific level of protection. The highest of the protective zoning has been bestowed on the Manu National Park, the heart of the Biosphere Reserve.

The Manu National Park is the largest national park in Peru and comprises more than 1.6 million hectares of intact tropical ecosystems, from lowland rainforest through cloud forest to highland elfin forest and humid Andean grasslands and swamps.

The Manu Biosphere Reserve (MBR) was established by UNESCO in 1977 as part their Man and the Biosphere Program. The Manu National Park was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO ten years later in 1987. This increase in status, attributed in recognition of the importance of the area from an environmental and socioeconomic point of view, helped secure the interest and financial backing of governments and non-government organizations across the globe. These investments have led to the development of long-term sustainable management and conservation strategies for the area and its local population.

The hallmark of the management strategies for the MBR has been the development of alternative and innovative land-use zones surrounding the core National Park. In this scheme some areas are dedicated to conservation while others are open for tourism, logging and reforestation.

Heliconia rostrata flower

The MBR is world renowned location for biodiversity and has an abundance of wildlife. Biologists have documented close to 1,300 species of butterflies (15% of the World total), 800 species of birds (9%) and 160 species of mammals (4%). 140 species of amphibians and reptiles and 250 species of freshwater fish have also been identified over the last few years. Of an estimated 25,000 species of flowering plant in Manu, only 18% have yet been properly described.

The MBR is also home to no less than eight Amerindian tribes as well as native highland Quechua-speaking communities and immigrant colonists (mestizos), all of whom add-up to a cultural mix of 18,000 people. A further 6,000 people (mainly foreigners) visit the MBR every year as tourists.

UNESCO - United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organisation
UNESCO - MAB (Man and the Biosphere) Programme
UNESCO - MAB Programme: The Manu Biosphere Reserve

Wikipedia - Manu National Park