The Amazon is home to 1.6 million indigenous people, some of whom continue to live in voluntary isolation, and all of whom depend on the forests and waters of the Amazon for their material and cultural survival. Protected areas and indigenous territories are known to be the best conserved lands in the Amazon, and USAID considers the region’s indigenous peoples to be the foundation for achieving its conservation goals. Their active and meaningful participation in development planning and decisions affecting the Amazon is the basis for the long-term conservation of the world's largest rainforest. Safeguarding the rights and resources of indigenous peoples will help conserve irreplaceable biodiversity and ecosystem services, and promote cultural survival and self-determined development.
We work to improve the representation of indigenous peoples in governance, enabling them to promote their own rights and livelihoods for the sustainable management of the forests and waters of the Amazon. This commitment builds on a history of partnership with indigenous peoples through previous regional programs. Our projects are aligned with USAID's Policy on Promoting the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This draft strategy seeks to identify specific elements of USAID’s Promoting the Rights of Indigenous People’s Policy into practice for Peru and particularly the Amazon biome. USAID seeks to promote the rights and self determination of indigenous communities while also protecting the Amazon and mitigating climate change.
CURRENT REGIONAL ACTIVITIES
AMAZON INDIGENOUS RIGHTS AND RESOURCES
The Amazon Indigenous Rights and Resources (AIRR) activity seeks to empower indigenous peoples to better exercise their rights in the face of large-scale infrastructure development and extractive activities that may affect their livelihoods. It aims to incorporate the rights and interests of indigenous peoples into public and private sector development planning to balance human welfare and environmental conservation. The project will also promote existing indigenous enterprises to grow and consolidate their businesses to reach national, regional or international markets through a combination of grants, loans and market analysis.
Total Project Investment: $ 17,962,505
Duration: August 2019 – August 2024
STRENGTHENING THE CAPACITY OF INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATIONS IN THE AMAZON
By providing grants and technical assistance to indigenous peoples’ organizations in the Amazon region this activity will help these communities to improve their administrative and financial management and their ability to lead development planning and priorities.
Total Project Investment: $2.4 million
Duration: February 2018 – September 2021
CURRENT ACTIVITIES IN PERU
THE FOREST ALLIANCE
Peru’s indigenous communities are among the largest landholders and manage a significant portion of the Peruvian Amazon forests. The Forest Alliance supports indigenous communities in Ucayali to conserve and manage their forested lands under an innovative model with the private sector. This project provides technical assistance on Community Forest Management, creating market-oriented sustainable businesses, engaging stakeholders in forest-friendly management, building capacity at the community-level and strengthening existing social networks. It also works with regional and local authorities to establish partnerships with indigenous communities to support monitoring of land deforestation and degradation.
Total Project Investment: $7,117,730
Duration: March 2019 – March 2024
PRO-BOSQUES
This activity supports strengthening of Peru’s forest governance by improving forest control and use of monitoring tools, promoting private sector engagement through sustainable forest management and improving business practices, and fostering market inclusiveness by increasing the participation of indigenous and other forest dependent communities in forest value chains. Pro-Bosques works with local Indigenous organizations to scale up and expand community control and oversight of forest resources in order to strengthen indigenous rights and improve forest-based livelihoods. Pro-Bosques also provides technical assistance to 16 Indigenous Communities and their representative organizations (12 in Loreto and four in Ucayali) in the development of planning documents for improved management of the biodiversity resources of the communal territories (mainly fishing and Aguaje management).
Total Project Investment: $ 25,041,124
Duration: September 2018 - September 2023
ALLIANCE FOR THE AMAZON
The social and economic challenges faced by the indigenous populations of the Peruvian Amazon prompted USAID and CEDRO to continue deepening the strategies for economic recovery and resilience, through legal, inclusive, and sustainable development in alternative development zones in the Huánuco, Junin, Loreto, Pasco, San Martin and Ucayali regions. Through articulated work based on economic recovery actions and mental health support aimed at indigenous populations, this initiative seeks to improve local businesses by increasing their sales, training in financial education, especially about savings for indigenous communities and incorporating skills to deal with psycho-emotional problems. Financial education has a direct impact on the empowerment of women, reducing their vulnerability to all types of violence. For the Alliance for the Amazon the participation of women from indigenous communities creates and improves their businesses, strengthen their independence economic.
Total project investment: $8,164,600.
Duration: May 2020 - October 2023
THE AFRO-PERUVIAN AND INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES PROGRAM (APIC)
APIC offers subsidized internships to recent graduates or students of the last year of university, interested in furthering the economic and social development of traditionally marginalized populations in Peru. It is an outstanding opportunity for young professionals or students to gain hands-on professional experience with the U.S. Agency for International Development. Its goal is to train the next generation of development professionals and foster greater social inclusion. Since APIC’s creation in 2010, 37 young professionals have completed the program. They have been recruited from around Peru: Lima, Piura, Ayacucho, Tacna, Ucayali, Huancavelica, Cajamarca, Ancash, Huanuco, Cusco, Junin, Puno, and San Martin.
