Ecotourism
The tourism situation in Puerto Maldonado is critical, if not pathetic. Lodging and lodges in the city itself, the Tambopata corridor and in the Madre de Dios and Tambopata river basins had to close their doors shortly after the pandemic began: without income to sustain the tourist operation, very expensive when it comes to moving supplies in boats, it was clearly impossible to continue.
The formal companies and also those operating in the good old days were forced to do without the assigned personnel and the blessed chain of payments was broken in a jiffy as in every corner of a country whose inhabitants do not have savings or pension systems at hand. The people, without jobs, as I have been told these days, had to turn to the forest to live from the irrational use of its resources, as always: in fact, the latest MAAP report indicates that in 2020 more hectares of the Amazon rainforest were destroyed than the previous year. And that is really serious.
This is how things are in Madre de Dios, the Peruvian capital of biodiversity, a territory that, if well managed, could receive those who, being inhabitants of the cities that have been closed (unsuccessfully, as it is visible), maintain the belief that this pandemic can be faced by complying with the recommendations given from the first moment and with plenty of fresh air ahead. Nature heals and is there, waiting for us. We have to organize the streets, as I have been saying, and also life in the natural areas we protect to preserve the biodiversity we have left for the benefit of all. We also have the obligation to heal ourselves.
