Peru is the Country with the Greatest Diversity of Birds in the World, its Authorities Announce

Peru has become the “world leader with the greatest diversity of birds on the planet”, reaching a record of 1,879 species of this type, surpassing Colombia, official sources reported.

Peru: World Leader in Avian Diversity

The National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (Sernanp) pointed out that an initiative that it promoted together with the Committee of Peruvian Bird Records (CRAP), the academy and the private sector “made it possible to show that Peru has 1,879 species of birds “. , positioning it in first place in the world ranking of birds”.

According to the record of the South American Classification Committee (SACC), in Colombia there are 1,869 species of birds and in Brazil 1,859 species.

The results of the initiative were announced in a ceremony held at the “Los Pantanos de Villa” wildlife refuge, in the south of Lima, in which the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Juan Carlos Mathews, and the Vice Minister of Strategic Development of Natural Resources of the Ministry of the Environment, Mariela Canepa.

In addition, the head of Sernanp, José Carlos Nieto, and the president of the Union of Ornithologists of Peru and member of CRAP, Fernando Angulo.

Importance of Avitourism and Research Strategy

Mathews highlighted, in this regard, that “Peru is a megadiverse country” that has “important destinations with unique, endemic birds, many of them present in Protected Natural Areas (ANP).”

“The global growth of bird tourism has positioned our country as the main international destination for this activity. It is a fact of celebration,” he said.

During the activity, CRAP presented a recognition that accredits Peru as a world leader with the greatest diversity of birds, by SACC criteria.

Sernanp indicated that the records, which include 19 new species for the official list of Peruvian birds, were published in a special edition of the Bulletin of the Union of Ornithologists of Peru.

For his part, Angulo explained to EFE that “a strategy was put together aimed at collecting the largest number of bird records to confirm their presence in the country.”

“We knew that there were at least 33 species that could be in Peru, but we had no evidence, what we began to do was almost detective work,” he said before adding that this allowed us to confirm 14 new records and produce scientific articles on each one, to which were added five more species that CRAP had validated.

Angulo pointed out that this work seeks to “draw some attention to the fact that Peru is a mega-diverse country in birds” and that it is also expected to “attract bird-watching tourism, which generates more tangible things, such as foreign currency, work, guides, hotels, accommodation, transportation”.

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During the ceremony, special recognition was also made to ornithologist Manuel A. Plenge, who “has provided an invaluable contribution to the knowledge of the birds of Peru,” according to Sernanp.