The WHSRN Executive Office is pleased to announce that Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary in Peru has been designated a WHSRN Site of Regional Importance for the presence of more than 20,000 shorebirds (migratory and resident) and for maintaining more than 1% of the biogeographic populations of the Wilson’s Plover (Charadrius wilsonia beldingi), Whimbrel (Numenius phaeopus), and Least Sandpiper (Calidris minutilla).
In 2010, a national shorebird census was conducted along the entire coast of Peru, including the Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary. The results of this census led to the publication of the Atlas of Peruvian Shorebirds (Senner and Angulo 2014). The Atlas highlights the sanctuary as an important site, estimating a total of 38,762 shorebirds in the area and the most common species being Wilson’s Plover, Black-necked Stilt (Himantopus mexicanus), Whimbrel, Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes), Semipalmated Sandpiper (C. pusilla), and Least Sandpiper. In 2019, WHSRN coordinated with CORBIDI a similar census along the entire coast, finding counts similar to those of 2010. Since 2016, the site is censused once a year within the framework of the Migratory Shorebird Project (MSP) coordinated regionally by Point Blue Conservation Sciences and locally implemented by CORBIDI. Thanks to these MSP censuses, there is good information on the diversity of species at the site.
A Whimbrel at Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary in Peru. Photo courtesy of CORBIDI.
Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary is located in the province and district of Zarumilla (department of Tumbes) and covers an area of 2,972 hectares. The Sanctuary is the only natural protected area in Peru that protects Peru’s mangrove ecosystem, which covers approximately 5,000 hectares, 60% of which is within the Sanctuary. The forest is the southernmost mangrove ecosystem along the eastern Pacific coast.
The area is part of the State Natural Protected Areas Service (Servicio de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado – SERNANP), under the Ministry of Environment, and is owned by the Peruvian government. It is currently managed by the Consortium of Mangroves of Northwest Peru (Consorcio Manglares del Noroeste del Perú), an organization made up of six associations of fishers and other users of the mangrove’s hydrobiological resources. This is a unique experience in the country, in which the State entrusts the management of a protected area to the local community organizations. This highlights the strong level of commitment to biodiversity from the communities. The Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary is managed through an administration contract signed in 2018 for a period of 20 years.
The protected area recently approved its 2023-2027 Master Plan which emphasizes the mitigation of threats at the site. The Plan recognizes existing threats such as the discharge of untreated water from adjacent prawn farms and wastewater, mangrove deforestation for prawn farms, and sedimentation of estuaries and tidal channels, while proposing participatory conservation actions to mitigate them. The Master Plan also highlights the importance of the site for migratory shorebirds and includes regular monitoring of this group of birds through a monitoring protocol called: “Protocolo de Monitoreo de la abundancia relativa para aves en el Santuario Nacional Los Manglares de Tumbes” (Protocol for Monitoring the Relative Abundance of Birds in the Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary).
Photo courtesy of CORBDI.
The regional, provincial, and local authorities of the department of Tumbes are voluntarily involved in the management of the Master Plan. During the development of the Plan, local stakeholders expressed their interest in the vision of Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary and identified and recognized the ecosystem services they receive from the Sanctuary and the importance of its conservation.
With the inclusion of the Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary, WHSRN now has 117 sites in 19 countries, including four in Peru, Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary, San Pedro de Vice Mangroves, Virrilá Estuary, and Paracas National Reserve.
Cover Photo: A mudflat at the new WHSRN Site Tumbes Mangroves National Sanctuary.
