For the first time a fee ordinance was approved for the, recovery and sustainable use of Lake Sauce, one of the main tourist attractions of the San Martin Region, in the Northern Peruvian Amazon, as part of the country’s Mechanisms of Remuneration for Ecosystem Services, MERESE.
The mechanism implies that each visitor or tourist contributes with ten new soles, or 2.6 US dollars when visiting the lake, an amount that will be used exclusively for conservation and ecosystem recovery activities, through a trust fund.
The conservation of Lake Sauce is urgent. Of the 21 water sources fed Lake Sauce, only five are active today. This valuable ecosystem is being affected by unsustainable activities in the upper, middle and lower parts of the basin such as deforestation, soil erosion, inadequate solid waste disposal, noise and oil spills in the lake. Lake Sauce still has the capacity to clean itself and recover, only if we stop this deterioration. Otherwise, it could enter an irreversible process altering the quantity and quality of its waters. Thus, the well-known "Blue Lagoon" could soon have a greenish color, affecting its biodiversity and navigability of the lake, and emanating bad odors.
© Conservación Internacional Perú
The Regional Government of San Martin has declared of regional interest the recovery and conservation of Lake Sauce and the creation of a Driving Group for the implementation of this Scenic Beauty mechanism, the first of its kind in the country. The MERESE is an instrument that allows the channeling of economic resources towards actions aimed at the conservation, recovery, and sustainable use of ecosystems. The trust guarantees that the funds will be used only for these purposes.
MERESE Sauce seeks to conserve and restore the lake, with a landscape approach that encompasses the entire basin, through reforestation and forest conservation, and the proper management of liquid and solid waste, seeking to cover a total of 214,000 hectares. About 2,000 people that make direct use of the ecosystem services offered by the lake will benefit. Around S/21 million or 5.6 million US dollars are expected to be raised over the next ten years to finance the conservation and recovery activities of the "Blue Lagoon".
© Conservación Internacional Perú
Given the recent formation of the good governance platform, the action plan will be launched to recover, protect, and preserve this beautiful scenery, which is of great importance for regional tourism, in addition to its hydro-biological relevance and its great biodiversity.
This has been possible thanks to a joint effort between the public, private and civil society sectors. The main strategic allies in this effort are the Promotion Office of Sustainable Private Investment of San Martin’s regional Govnerment; the Business Alliance for the Amazon, promoted by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Canada and Conservation International Peru; World Wildlife Fund Peru (WWF); and the District Municipality of Sauce.