Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Mining · Peru · 1840–2025

Peruvian guano trade and the Gibbs family

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
What the record lacks: 1 none on record · 4 insufficient · 1 not measured · 1 disputed See the gaps

Peru exported guano from its coastal islands from the 1840s and later defaulted on its debts. A British estate bought with guano wealth was acquired by the National Trust in 2002 with a public grant of GBP 17.425 million. Guano bird numbers stood at 529,400 in January 2025.

GBP 17.425 millionPublic grant used to buy an estate built on guano wealth (2002)
Figure as reported by the Antiques Trade Gazette; the grant came from a public fund.

Status As of January 2025: AgroRural counted 529,400 guano birds; a larger anchovy quota was approved the same year.

What?
Guano exports from Peru in the nineteenth century, the later acquisition of a British estate linked to guano wealth by a public-funded National Trust purchase, and the present decline of guano birds. Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)
Where?
Peru's coastal islands; Tyntesfield estate, England. Antiques Trade Gazette
When?
Exports 1840–76; estate purchase 2002; bird counts 2022 and 2025. Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)
Who?
Gained
  • Gibbs family (reported) — Reported holder of the guano monopoly and its wealth; not independently verified.
Lost
Harmed
  • Guano birds — Counted at 529,400 in January 2025, against about 4 million in 2022. bdnews24
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Guano was exported; later a public fund paid for the estate; birds declined from the 2022 bird flu, the 2023 El Niño and anchovy overfishing in 2024, per Reuters. bdnews24
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Peru exported guano, the accumulated droppings of seabirds, from the 1840s to the 1870s. The Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA), an advocacy organisation, records about $500 million in guano exports in 1840–76, followed by a default.

The Gibbs family is reported to have held the guano monopoly in Peru; none of the verified sources reviewed states this directly (see Unknown). A Wikipedia entry on Tyntesfield links guano wealth to the family's estate in England; that entry is not independently verified.

In 2002 the National Trust acquired the Tyntesfield estate. The Antiques Trade Gazette reported that a public fund paid GBP 17.425 million.

Guano birds themselves declined during the twentieth century, according to unverified reports. In January 2025 AgroRural, an agency of Peru's Agriculture Ministry, counted 529,400 guano birds on 22 islands and 8 coastal points, as reported by Reuters via bdnews24. The count was about 4 million in 2022. The reported causes were the 2022 bird flu, the 2023 El Niño and overfishing of anchovy in 2024. In the same year Peruvian officials approved the largest anchovy quota in seven years.

  1. 1840Start of the guano export boom reported by COHA (1840–76)
  2. 1876End of the 1840–76 period; COHA records default after about $500 million in exports
  3. 2002National Trust acquires Tyntesfield; a public fund pays GBP 17.425 million
  4. 2022Guano bird count of about 4 million (as reported)
  5. 2025AgroRural counts 529,400 guano birds (January); largest anchovy quota in seven years approved

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

    Recorded

    • COHA: about $500 million in Peruvian guano exports in 1840–76, followed by default.
      Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA)
    • Antiques Trade Gazette: a public fund paid GBP 17.425 million for the Tyntesfield estate in 2002.
      Antiques Trade Gazette
    • Reuters via bdnews24: AgroRural counted 529,400 guano birds in January 2025 on 22 islands and 8 coastal points; the count was about 4 million in 2022. The reported causes were the 2022 bird flu, the 2023 El Niño and anchovy overfishing in 2024.
      bdnews24

    Who gained

    Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

    Reached nature or the ground

    Not published
    No figure published.

    Gained elsewhere

    Not totalled
    Public fund payment for the Tyntesfield estate (2002)£17m
    Currency: GBP · Window: 2002. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What nature saw

    Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

    Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

    Guano birds counted
    529,400
    AgroRural, January 2025, 22 islands and 8 coastal points (via Reuters / bdnews24)
    Guano birds counted in 2022
    About 4 million
    As reported by the same source

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
    No court caseNo independent ecological evaluationKey earnings undisclosed

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: No independent ecological evaluation is on record.

    Court

    Record

    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the Gibbs family established the Peruvian guano monopoly and became the richest family in Britain not of the aristocracy.
    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: about 11 million tonnes of guano exported from Peru in 1840–1880, the world's largest exporter (cited to Gestion, Lima).
    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: a 1869 contract with Auguste Dreyfus for two million tonnes of guano, and Peru's 1875 inability to pay its debts (cited to PUCP, Lima).
    • Disputed Reported but not independently verified: guano bird numbers falling from more than 20 million to about 5 million between the late 1950s and the 1960s, with anchovy fishing for fishmeal taking 85% of the catch available to the birds; sources cited give differing figures (27 million to 5.5 million, 15 million to 5 million).
    • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: that the anchovy stock collapsed in 1972 through overfishing and El Niño.

    Did the harm stop?

    The sources reviewed do not record the end of the guano harvest; they report seabird numbers falling after the 1950s and standing at 529,400 in January 2025.

    Who paid?

    As reported, a public fund paid GBP 17.425 million in 2002 for the estate; Peru defaulted on its debts after the 1840-76 export boom.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations✓ Communities and civil society— Researchers

    Press and investigations

    1. National Trust win battle for Tyntesfield
      Antiques Trade Gazette · 2002

    Communities and civil society

    1. The Great Peruvian Guano Bonanza: Rise, Fall and Legacy
      Council on Hemispheric Affairs (COHA) ·

    Connected cases

    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
    Similar cases
    Fishing ban · Peru · 1954–1956
    Record cites CIA file on Onassis for 1954 whaling off Peru
    Same type: Fishing banSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Mining · Peru · 2022
    Peru inventories 6,026 mining liabilities, needing over 3,000 million soles
    Same type: MiningSame countryHarm to nature not measured
    Mining · Water use · Chile · 2019–2026
    Salar de Atacama lithium extraction
    Same type: MiningSame regionHarm to nature not measured
    Mining · Colombia · 2019
    Cerrejón coal mine ruling (Colombia)
    Same type: MiningSame regionHarm to nature not measured
    Mining · Chemical pollution · Peru · 1997–2024
    La Oroya smelter ruling (Peru)
    Same type: MiningSame country
    Protected area / relocation · Fishing ban · Mexico · 1995–2025
    Cabo Pulmo National Park (Mexico) community no-take success
    Same type: Fishing banSame regionHarm to nature not measured