Peru is strategically located in South America, sharing borders with Ecuador, Bolivia, Co- lombia, Brazil, and Chile, where the Rufford Foundation has supported over 400 projects (Peru 91, Ecuador 46, Bolivia 44, Colombia 89, Brazil 122, and Chile 56). Since many Rufford-supported projects are conservation-driven, we took this opportunity for grantees and Peruvian environmental authorities to meet and explore solutions for strengthen- ing biodiversity conservation in the region. We invited representatives of the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment and Ministry of Agriculture, as well as local university professors. The meeting was enriched by two extra presentations: one by Flavia Mazzini, representing RECONOCE, a scientific collaboration network to strengthen biodiversity conservation in Latin America, created in the last Rufford Meeting in Chile; and a passionate closing presentation made by José Alvarez, Director of the Biological Diversity Office of the Peruvian Environmental Ministry. Another highlight was the presentation by Rufford grantee and laywer Bruno Monteferri, about learning to involve people in financing private and communal conservation in Peru. The official language of the meeting was Spanish, to stimulate discussion with Peruvian authorities. The abstracts and full papers are also presented in Spanish, to facilitate their dissemination in Peru.
