As Dr Chris Beirne leaves the Manu Learning Centre, his passion is multiplied through the students he’s trained, the cross-cultural relationships he’s built and the people he’s inspired.
“Life isn’t as exciting anywhere else as the tropics,” says Chris, who has joked his way through tropical diseases, deadly snake encounters and run-ins with illegal loggers.
That infectious energy has lit up every corner of the Manu Learning Centre (MLC) for the past 15 months as Crees’ Field Research Coordinator, while Chris’ knowledge of tropical ecology has benefited Crees staff, local Peruvians and visitors alike.
In this interview, Chris – also known for his mad futbol skills and knack for capturing the backsides of large cats on camera traps – shares what his work has meant to him and how we can help the Peruvian Amazon.
What’s special about your research at the MLC?
The special thing here is the temporal resolution. Researchers usually go to a place and survey it for a couple months during the field season and then leave. But because we can survey throughout the year, I think we’ve got a better understanding of our biodiversity than any other place and an insane amount of information.
What are you most proud of achieving?
We published our first Tree Top Manu paper in 2016 demonstrating that people can use arboreal camera traps. Working with other staff members on their publications, working with the park authorities and giving talks to Peruvians and school kids is a huge buzz too. I ́m happy that I can converse in Spanish in a way that means I’m instantly on friendly terms with local people and can communicate without misunderstandings.
What makes Crees unique?
It ́s easy to visit the Amazon and think that conservation is a black-and-white issue – anything that chops down trees and kills animals is bad. But conservation isn’t as simple as taking people out into the forest and protecting it; you’ve got to acknowledge the people living in an environment. It becomes a case of how can we best live alongside nature.
Crees is great at giving both sides of the story and giving volunteers that perspective. We’re engaging with local people, running projects in the local town and working with initiatives that are genuinely altering people ́s lives.
What is the biggest threat facing the Peruvian Amazon?
Peru is a development-obsessed nation and its economy has improved massively over the last 10 or 15 years. But there ́s this push to make every area in Peru economically profitable without thought to the environmental consequences. Increasing population size, increasing production and continued development of the Amazon is probably the biggest threat.
Studies have shown that one of the main drivers of deforestation isn’t illegal coca plantations or anything like that, but government initiatives giving people incentives to go live in remote areas, followed by deforestation and environmental disasters.
How has the area around the MLC changed in the last 15 months?
I’ve seen the local town of Salvación grow considerably. There ́s an increase in economic activity and the number of trucks leaving Salvación and going up to Cusco with banana and papaya, sometimes even logs.
People are also really pushing for a road connecting communities in Manu Biosphere Reserve to Cusco. It’s quite a devisive issue; a lot of the pressure’s coming from people who support logging. But if it took you three hours to get to the supermarket to get your groceries, what would you do? You ́d probably want a nicer road to get there faster, too.
Say I’ve never visited Latin America. What ́s one thing I can do to help the Peruvian Amazon?
Get informed, read about it, share things about it and make wise decisions about the products you choose to eat, whether that’s Brazilian beef or palm oil.
Big business is one of the big threats to the Amazon. But it’s not just about the Peruvian Amazon, it’s about the whole tropics – and it’s only with sensible consumer options, people voting with their wallets, that big business is ever going to change.
Scariest or wildest experience in the jungle?
Every time I’ve ever seen a bushmaster – the largest venomous snake in the Americas, a two-metre, heat-seeking missile of venom – they’ve surprised me.
One of the best would be a herd of white-lipped peccaries walking down the trail towards me, because of the noise and the smell and the sheer number of them. It ́s just you, hid behind a tree in the jungle against this giant horde.
What will you miss most about the Amazon?
The sounds. When you’re here, the environment is inescapable. When you go home, as soon as you’ve got the double-glazed windows closed, there’s nothing. When I’m in the UK now, no matter how cold it is, I sleep with the window open because I need that connection with anything that ́s not electric. I ́m going to miss waking up and hearing titi monkeys in the morning, annoying as it is sometimes. Being in the thing that you love so much is a privilege.