Yurúa Communal Conservation Concession Now Listed as an OECM on Protected Planet
The territory managed by the Yurúa Communal Conservation Association (ACC-Yurúa), comprising nine Indigenous communities, is now listed on the global Protected Planet platform as an Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measure (OECM), with a reported area of 456.69 km².
An aerial view of the conservation concession managed by ACC-Yurúa in the Yurúa River basin, Ucayali.
The Yurúa Communal Conservation Concession, located in Ucayali, is now listed as an Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measure (OECM) on Protected Planet, the global platform that provides information on protected areas and other conserved areas.
The site is identified by Site ID 555890374, with a reported area of 456.69 km²—approximately 45,669 hectares—, located in Peru and classified as an Other effective area-based conservation measure.
This milestone builds on more than a decade of conservation and territorial management led by ACC-Yurúa, an organization comprising Indigenous communities from the Asháninka, Yaminahua, Amahuaca, and Yanesha peoples of the Yurúa River basin.
What does it mean to be an OECM?
OECMs are areas that, although located outside protected area systems, effectively contribute to the long-term conservation of biodiversity.
This designation helps identify and bring visibility to territories where different forms of governance and management deliver long-term conservation outcomes.
In Yurúa, the area encompasses more than 45,000 hectares of Amazonian forest along the Peru-Brazil border, near the Murunahua Indigenous Reserve and Alto Purús National Park. Its recognition as an OECM acknowledges the territory’s contribution to biodiversity conservation within the broader Amazonian landscape.
Location of the Yurúa Communal Conservation Concession and surrounding Indigenous communities along the Peru-Brazil border.
From the national process to international listing
This process dates back to 2011, with efforts to strengthen local organization and territorial management. ACC-Yurúa was subsequently established, and in 2019, the conservation concession was granted.
Since then, the organization has carried out territorial management and surveillance, biodiversity monitoring, boundary signage, and forest protection activities. In May 2025, its Management Declaration (Declaración de Manejo, DEMA) was approved, followed by further work to prepare and evaluate the proposal for reporting the area as an OECM.
Installation of boundary signage in the Yurúa Communal Conservation Concession as part of efforts to manage and protect the territory.
On July 30, 2026, Peru’s Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), in its capacity as Peru’s National Focal Point for the Convention on Biological Diversity, formally submitted the relevant information to the United Nations Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC) and requested that the site be reported and included as an OECM on Protected Planet and in the corresponding global database.
The area is now listed on Protected Planet under this designation, marking another milestone for conservation in Yurúa.
Protected Planet listing for the Yurúa Communal Conservation Concession as an Other Effective Area-Based Conservation Measure (OECM). Site ID: 555890374; reported area: 456.69 km².
The process received funding from Profonanpe, with Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC) providing technical and logistical support to ACC-Yurúa, in coordination with the Association of Native Communities for the Integral Development of Yurúa Yono Sharakoiai (ACONADIYSH) and the institutions involved.
The process received support from the Peruvian Amazon Sustainable Landscapes Project (ASL2), led by Peru’s Ministry of the Environment (MINAM), which contributed to the activities carried out to report the concession as an OECM. The activities also received funding from Profonanpe and technical and logistical support from Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC) to ACC-Yurúa, in coordination with the Association of Native Communities for the Integral Development of Yurúa Yono Sharakoiai (ACONADIYSH) and the institutions involved in the process.
A new milestone for conservation in Yurúa
Its recognition as an OECM raises national and international visibility of this territory’s contribution to Amazonian biodiversity conservation and adds to the progress achieved through more than a decade of territorial management.
For ACC-Yurúa, the work continues: sustaining effective conservation across the area while strengthening territorial surveillance and management alongside its member communities.