Arena Blanca Reserve is a bird watching center located in the buffer zone of the Alto Mayo Protection Forest – BPAM protected natural area. Its founder and administrator is Nórbil Becerra, a farmer from Cajamarca who migrated to San Martín at the age of 16. Later, when he settled in the Aguas Verdes Population Center, he established a relationship with the Alto Mayo Protection Forest management through the signing of Conservation Agreements in 2013, where he committed to being another ally in the conservation of the protected area. Under this agreement, Nórbil learned sustainable coffee management under agroforestry systems and participated in internships in other regions. On one of these internships, to San Ignacio, he discovered the world of bird watching and fell in love forever.
Aware of the richness of birds near his farm, he decided to implement his own bird watching center. With the support of the technical team from Sernanp, Conservation International, and Andean Ecosystems, Nórbil founded Arena Blanca Reserve in 2015, in honor of the type of ecosystem in which it is located. With the installation of the first feeders and the conditioning of access, the first bird species were attracted for sighting, and this bird watching center began receiving its first specialized tourists the following year.
Since then, this venture has only grown. Two more viewpoints were opened, secondary forests were allowed to recover, and the number of bird species in the reserve increased, especially restricted habitat birds. In 2019, Nórbil Becerra won the MINCETUR "Turismo Emprende" Contest and in 2023 the "Emprendedores por Naturaleza" award from Profonanpe. Likewise, Nórbil has been strengthening his knowledge in bird watching and the administration of his bird tourism initiative, managing to participate in the XI South American Bird Fair (Cusco, 2022) and an international internship in Colombia (2023).
Currently, this center has three equipped viewpoints, a dining room, and a lodge with rooms to host national and international tourists.
A key factor for the sustainability of Arena Blanca Reserve has been the alliance generated with the co-management of the Alto Mayo Protection Forest – BPAM through Conservation Agreements.
Since 2012, BPAM administration has been co-managed between Sernanp and Conservation International, who is the executor of the Administration Contract for this protected natural area, to ensure that its 182,000 hectares continue to supply essential ecosystem services for the direct benefit of families settled within this protected area and its buffer zone.
To address this challenge, organizations such as Ecoan have been involved, with extensive experience in direct work with local populations to contribute to the conservation of biological diversity. Together, these three organizations have been working for more than 10 years in the protected area, involving more than 1,000 families in its conservation and reducing the deforestation rate by up to 59%.
Conservation Agreements in BPAM are signed between Sernanp and each family, and to date more than 1,400 agreements have been signed. These are voluntary commitments that, with the support of Conservation International and its partner Ecoan, have provided a series of benefits such as technical advice to improve productivity and sustainable agricultural practices, such as coffee, vanilla, pitahaya, and also other sustainable activities such as melipona management, bird tourism, and crafts.
