From park guards to Guardians

After having served the country for decades, helping to protect Manu National Park, which extends between the Paucartambo and Manu Landscapes, a group of former park guards have joined forces with Regenera to continue conserving the forests of the Amazon.

Isidro Coyla (right) and Modesto Challco in the Aguanos sector. The former park ranger and the former head of Manu National Park are now Guardians with Regenera.

 

Isidro Coyla arrived in Madre de Dios at a very young age, in search of a better future. “Together with three friends I came to work in the mining corridor during school vacations, but the money we earned was stolen. I didn’t want to return home defeated, so I went to Salvación, where I first worked digging gold in a ravine near the town, and then as a logger. I was perplexed to see how in five minutes we felled trees that had taken centuries to grow. That is why I later chose to work in Manu National Park, where I was a park ranger. Now in my farm I dedicate myself to conservation, to sustainable activities, thinking about the future of my family and of the planet.”

In the Shipetiari Native Community -the first Guardian of Regenera-, Andrés Sapuna, who worked for 22 years as a park guard, also bets on forest regeneration. On his agroforestry farm he has planted cedars, one of the most valued and depleted species of the Amazon, to give back to the forest what others have taken from it. “When I worked in Manu I learned a lot about how to conserve Nature. I carry that lesson with me and today, in my community, I am reforesting the trees that we have lost so that we can have them back and our children can enjoy them,” he says.

Andrés Sapona, Shipetiari community member and former Manu park guard, next to a cedar tree recently planted on his agroforestry farm.

 

Ruperto Mejía “Chachón”, and his son Miguel, proudly pose next to an aguano or tornillo tree, reforested almost twenty eighteen years ago, on their property.

 

In the Pantiacolla-Santa Cruz sector, Ruperto Mejía, known by the conservationist community as “Chachón”, is a well-remembered park guard of Manu and has dedicated his life to the protection of Nature. At more than 80 years old, together with his son Miguel, he has shown interest in becoming a Regenera Guardian and is taking the first steps to join the community.

Why does a park ranger become a good Regenera Guardian? This is explained by José Carlos Nieto, current head of Peru’s National Service of State Protected Areas (SERNANP). “The first thing you have to have to be a park guard is a great love for Nature; you have to have a great conviction, a very special dedication to spend 44 days away from your family to take care of our natural and cultural heritage. In the majority of cases -and Manu is one of them- they are people who go beyond public service.”

 

For Modesto Challco, two-time Head of Manu National Park and neighbour of these ex park rangers: “Our alliance with Regenera gives visibility and recognition to our actions and strengthens our vision of becoming micro-connectors between Manu National Park and the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, making us local Guardians.”

The common goal of these three former public servants is their long-term commitment to the conservation and restoration of their lands. These courageous Peruvians have been reforesting and restoring for decades, to the point that on their land it is possible to see aguano trees – also known as tornillos – up to 30 metres tall, planted almost thirty years ago. The stories of these people, fierce defenders of nature, are a message of hope for the future and a fine example of commitment and love for the Earth.