(Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú. Fondo Editorial, 2013) Hinojosa, Milagros
The Cerros de Amotape National Park (CANP) is a vast Natural Protected Area (NPA) in northwestern Peru, which contains a great diversity of plants and animals, many of which are endangered and are unique in our country. Currently, this park is being reduced due to logging and cattle ranching. Most of the studies in the area have identified the inhabitants of the buffer zone of the CANP as responsible for its degradation, without investigating exhaustively their points of view and knowledge, which is considered essential for understanding social and environmental problems. This is the reason why I decided to investigate the deterioration ofthis park from the people´s perspective (adults and children) of the villages «Los Encuentros de Pilares» (LEP) and «El Chaylo» (ECH), both settled in the buffer zone of the park. My focusin this paper is only on the children’s perception of these villages about the CANP. The main objective is to explain the behavior linked to the park by the population of both villages, and the specific objectives are to characterize their perceptions and knowledge regarding the CANP. Researches on the perception of the populations of the NPA, and specifically the children, are very rare in our country. Thus, this study aims to provide a small contribution to the knowledge of the subject. On the methodological side, I adopted the approach and instruments of the geography of perception, and used a qualitative methodology, which demonstrated to be very effective in understanding the problematic. Also, the use of mental maps proved to be a quite valuable resource that allowed children to reveal their perceptions in a fun and dynamic way. Among the results, I found that the children’s perceptions from the two villages are contrasting. Whereas the children from ECH possess a strong ownership and identification with the CANP, they have not been instructed about their problems; in LEP instead, the children do make a difference between their village and the park, and they have a strong awareness oftheir problems and the importance of their protection.