Protecting the Amazon means strengthening Indigenous Peoples’ land rights and leadership.
With this vision in mind, Indigenous organisations, land defenders, and territorial actors from across Latin America are gathering in Pucallpa, Ucayali, on 10–11 July for the first in-person meeting of the Regional Peer Learning School on Rights-Based Conservation.
The School is part of a regional peer learning programme bringing together participants from Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and Suriname. The programme combines online learning, territorial exchanges and opportunities for coordination and advocacy on conservation, territorial governance and the rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The initiative is led by the International Land Coalition Latin America and the Caribbean (ILC LAC), in partnership with the National Land Coalition of Peru (CNT Peru), with the support of Rainforest Trust.
The programme began earlier this year with an online School, led by CNT Peru, which brought together Indigenous representatives and territorial actors to explore protected areas, land titling, the bioeconomy, carbon credits, territorial governance and the sustainable management of Indigenous territories.
Following six online sessions, the first in-person gathering aims to strengthen dialogue, collective learning and the co-creation of proposals rooted in territorial realities. Throughout the process, participants have shared lessons drawn from practical experiences on the ground while strengthening capacities and advocacy agendas for rights-based conservation at both national and regional levels.
As part of the programme, participants from across the region will also travel to the Putumayo River Basin in Loreto, Peru, to learn from the experience of the Bajo Putumayo Communal Reserve, which protects more than 234,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest through a co-management model between Indigenous communities and the State. Supported by the Instituto del Bien Común (IBC) and Indigenous organisations from the basin, this initiative forms part of a transboundary Amazonian biocultural corridor shared by Peru, Colombia, Ecuador and Brazil.
During the exchange, participants will learn about processes related to the right to prior consultation, territorial governance, community monitoring and the sustainable management of natural resources, all led by Indigenous communities themselves.
The programme will also showcase experiences developed with the Confederation of Amazon Nationalities of Peru (CONAP) on Indigenous land titling, community monitoring and Amazon conservation. To date, these efforts have contributed to securing legal title for more than 158,000 hectares of Indigenous territories and to conserving over 200,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest across the regions of Ucayali, Amazonas and Junín.
The programme also includes a territorial exchange with the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) in Colombia, focusing on experiences of territorial autonomy, the defence of Mother Earth and the role of the Indigenous Guard in protecting Indigenous territories.
For CNT Peru, the programme also represents an opportunity to strengthen coordination and advocacy agendas around rights-based conservation. "These spaces connect the experiences of Indigenous leaders from across the region, helping identify shared lessons, strengthen collective proposals and build a conservation agenda that respects Indigenous land rights,” said Luis Hallazi, facilitator of the Platform for Responsible Land Governance (CNT Peru)
Over the coming months, territorial exchanges will continue across different regions of Peru and Colombia, alongside further opportunities for dialogue, reflection and the exchange of knowledge among participants from across Latin America.
Because conserving nature also means recognising rights, strengthening territorial governance and building solutions with the people who live in and care for these territories.
For more information, please contact Elisa Wiener, Programme Officer at ILC LAC: e.wienerbravo@landcoalition.org
This programme is supported by Rainforest Trust to strengthen rights-based conservation processes led by Indigenous Peoples and territorial organisations across the Amazon.