Emprendedores por Naturaleza: Peru’s MINAM–SERNANP Co-Financing Fund for Protected-Area Bionegocios

Correction notice: an earlier version of this page described a large Andean biodiversity grant administered by MINAM with SERFOR. The official programme verified for this page is Emprendedores por Naturaleza, run by the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado (SERNANP), an agency of the Ministerio del Ambiente. It is a protected-area enterprise competition, not a general national grant for any biodiversity project.

If you run a cooperative, a family business, a community association or a small tourism operation next to one of Peru’s protected areas, there is a real national competition that has co-financed enterprises like yours. It is called Emprendedores por Naturaleza (ExN), an initiative created in 2020. The 2026 rules set a ceiling of S/ 60,000 per winning project, awarded as non-reimbursable co-financing.

Set your expectations to that number before you read further. ExN is not a facility that builds processing plants or funds export programmes. It buys the missing dryer, the second boat motor, the cold chain, the signage and trail work, the formalisation paperwork, the batch of hives. For enterprises at that stage, it is one of the few state instruments in Peru that reaches them at all.

At a Glance

The 2026 Edition Was Eight Competitions, Not One

This is the detail that trips up most applicants. ExN is not a single call with a single pot. The 2026 campaign page lists eight editions, each tied to a protected area or a regional-conservation programme, with its own rules, budget, ceiling and sometimes its own submission channel.

Your first task in any future edition is therefore not to write a proposal. It is to work out which window you belong to, because that determines your ceiling, your deadline, your submission route and the office you talk to. In 2026, a national-window applicant used a vForm platform; ACR+ used a separate vForm process; Cordillera Azul accepted email and physical submissions; and Machiguenga–Manu accepted email and physical submissions through the listed reserve offices.

Who Can Apply

The national window’s rules document lists the eligible applicant types plainly:

• Individuals with a registered business (personas naturales con negocio)
• Micro and small enterprises, associations and cooperatives constituted for the use of natural resources
• Campesino and native communities
• Indigenous organisations at regional and local level
• Sociedades Agrarias de Interés Social (SAIS)

The ACR+ window phrases it slightly differently, adding civil associations with or without profit motive that are based in local communities, native or campesino communities, and legally constituted companies whose corporate purpose includes sustainable use of natural resources. Area-specific windows narrow it further: the Machiguenga–Manu call, for example, is limited to formally recognised organisations led by native and campesino communities working in the reserve, and to communities associated with ECA Maeni and the Manu area.

What matters more than legal form is location and activity. Your enterprise has to sit inside a protected area, its buffer zone or associated territory, or inside a regional or private conservation area — and what you do has to be compatible with the conservation objectives of that area.

What Counts as a Bionegocio

SERNANP publishes a list of priority sustainable-management themes. Proposals must fit one:

• Continental or marine hydrobiological resources — arahuana, paiche, river shrimp, black clams, macroalgae, among others
• Wild flora — tara, brazil nut, aguaje, ungurahui, huasaí, totora, junco, palm leaves, natural pasture grasses, medicinal plants, camu camu, forest tree seed
• Wild fauna — bush meat, taricaya turtles, native stingless bee honey, vicuña fibre, butterflies, island guano
• Agroforestry — coffee, cacao, honey, fruit, semi-permanent crops
• Scenic and natural-setting resources — lodging, food service, tour operation, interpretation and promotion, including tourism that complements brazil nut, butterfly, coffee, cacao, craft or basketry work
• Ecological and productive restoration inside protected, regional or private conservation areas, or in buffer zones
• Ancestral sustainable enterprises — textile craft, basketry, ceramics and other traditional practice that earns income compatible with conservation
• Other sustainable enterprises implementing nature-based solutions

Note what appears there and what does not. Vicuña fibre, natural pastures and medicinal plants are all explicitly in scope, which is what makes ExN reachable for high-Andean applicants. Land purchase, debt refinancing and activities incompatible with the area’s management plan are not what this fund is for.

An Honest Word About the “Andean” Framing

This page previously sold ExN as an Andes-specific fund. It is not. ExN is organised around protected areas, not altitude, and its largest single area-specific window in 2026 — Cordillera Azul, at S/ 600,000 — is for enterprises in that park’s buffer zone.

High-Andean enterprises may fit the national window or a relevant ACR+ territory when their activity and location meet the rules. That is different from saying ExN is an Andean fund: the official 2026 rules also cover marine resources, Amazonian protected areas, nature tourism, restoration and traditional crafts.

How the 2026 Cycle Ran

• 15 January 2026 — MINAM and SERNANP launched the 2026 edition at a public ceremony, announcing S/ 4.5 million and more than 80 projects, and confirming the extension to marine protected areas.
• 10 March 2026 — SERNANP announced an extension after heavy demand, and republished every window’s rules document in an ampliación version.
• 15 March 2026, 6:00 p.m. — final close for all eight windows.
• 23 April 2026 — the campaign page’s last-change date; it lists the 2026 winners by window.

Since 2020 the competition has co-financed 212 enterprises, reaching more than 6,000 families in 400 communities. The official SERNANP announcement also says that about one-third of funded projects have been led by women. For the 2026 cycle, SERNANP projected approximately 83 new sustainable enterprises and described the eight editions as a combined S/ 4.5 million fund in its public announcement; the campaign page gives the precise combined edition budgets as S/ 4,630,000.

Preparing for the Next Call

The official campaign page currently remains a 2026 archive: it lists the winners and does not publish a next-edition deadline. Do not book work against an assumed calendar. Watch the SERNANP campaign page and write to emprendedoresxnaturaleza@sernanp.gob.pe to ask to be notified if a new call is published.

Use the waiting time on the things that cannot be produced quickly:

Formalisation. Many windows require a legally constituted applicant or a registered individual business, although the Tambopata–Bahuaja Sonene rules also listed individuals without a business. RUC registration, updated statutes, a current board of directors properly filed with SUNARP, and an active bank account in the organisation’s name are the most common reasons an otherwise strong proposal is rejected on admissibility.

Your relationship with the área natural protegida. The jefatura of your protected area is the single most useful contact you have. Staff there know which activities fit the management plan, whether you need an authorisation or a contrato de aprovechamiento, and what previous winners in your area proposed. Introduce yourself before a call opens, not during it.

A budget that fits the ceiling. A proposal that needs S/ 180,000 to work is not a candidate for a S/ 60,000 award. Break the plan into a stage that S/ 60,000 genuinely completes, and be explicit about what the enterprise can already cover itself. Co-financing and in-kind contribution — labour, existing premises, equipment already owned — should be quantified rather than gestured at.

Quotes and evidence. Supplier quotes for equipment, sales records or receipts showing the enterprise already trades, photographs of current operations, and any buyer relationship you can document. Small, verifiable proof beats projections.

Named participants. Most windows want to know how many families take part and what each contributes. A list with names, roles and community affiliation is more persuasive than a headcount.

How Submission Works

The route depends on the window. In 2026 the national window used vForm process 8790, while ACR+ used process 8907. Dorsal de Nasca, Paracas and Mar Tropical de Grau used the electronic process identified in their SERNANP bases; the published pages point to process 8906. Cordillera Azul accepted email at emprendedoresxcordillerazul@cima.org.pe and emprendedoresxnaturaleza@sernanp.gob.pe, plus physical delivery at its listed administrative offices. Tambopata–Bahuaja Sonene and Machiguenga–Manu published email routes with copies to the relevant SERNANP or partner addresses, plus physical submission locations. Always read the rules PDF for the specific window; the general campaign page does not tell you which channel applies to each applicant.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much can we actually receive? Up to S/ 60,000 in the national, Cordillera Azul and ACR+ windows. Lower in others: S/ 50,000 in Dorsal de Nasca, Tambopata–Bahuaja Sonene and Machiguenga–Manu, S/ 35,000 in Paracas, S/ 30,000 in Mar Tropical de Grau.

Is the money repayable? No. SERNANP describes it as financiamiento no reembolsable — non-reimbursable co-financing.

Do we need to be inside a protected area? Inside an ANP, its buffer zone or associated territory, or inside an ACR or ACP. Buffer-zone enterprises are eligible and are a large share of past winners.

Can an individual apply, or do we need an association? The national window accepts individuals with a registered business. Several area-specific windows accept only legally constituted organisations, so check your window’s rules.

Can we apply if we have won before? The rules documents for each edition set the conditions on prior winners. Read the bases for the specific call rather than relying on a previous year’s terms.

When is the next call? The official campaign page does not announce a next edition or deadline. Check that page and contact SERNANP before treating the competition as open.

Official Sources

• Campaign page (all windows, winners, contact): https://www.gob.pe/institucion/sernanp/campa%C3%B1as/56972-emprendedores-por-naturaleza-2026
• SERNANP publications, where each window’s bases PDF is posted: https://www.gob.pe/sernanp
• Profonanpe, financial partner and host of the submission platform: https://profonanpe.org.pe/
• Questions: emprendedoresxnaturaleza@sernanp.gob.pe