A Casualty of Peace? Lessons on De-Militarizing Conservation in the Cordillera Del Condor Corridor

Abstract

The resolution in 1998 of the armed conflict between Peru and Ecuador through environmental peace-building negotiations creating a transboundary conservation area have been heralded as an exemplar of how ecological factors can foster collaboration between adversaries. This was also a rare case of US mediation resolving a territorial conflict alongside Brazilian diplomacy. However, almost twenty years later the peace between the two countries has not reaped the conservation dividends expected as other extractive industry interests and drug gangs have found their way into this region. This chapter will explore the lessons of public-private partnerships for conservation in a post-conflict demilitarized hinterland. The importance of finding better ways of not just attaining peace but sustaining conservation after peace is addressed through interviews with key stakeholders in a detailed retrospective of this extraordinary case.

Keywords: Peru, Ecuador, Conservation, Peace-building

JEL Classification: N56