Climate change mitigation with agroforestry sustainable businesses supporting Indigenous Peoples in Peru

• The project worked with nine native communities of the Shipibo-conibo, Cacataibo and Ese'eja groups in Ucayali and Madre de Dios regions
• Large-scale deforestation and land degradation caused by migratory cultivation and unsustainable agricultural activities lead to negative environmental impacts, including the release of significant greenhouse gas emissions
• As well as being harmful to the environment, these traditional practices of land and forest use offer only limited income and livelihood opportunities to the local indigenous communities as they struggle to access fair and sustainable value chains
• Native communities have their own established organisational structures for the management of their land. However, these often lack a clear business proposition as well as equitable gender participation
• There is minimal awareness among indigenous communities about the benefits and opportunities of agroforestry businesses

The project successfully built the knowledge and capacity of local communities to implement sustainable agroforestry businesses. The project delivered this across a range of outputs:

• 60 training sessions across eight locations covering a range of topics, including training community members as facilitators in agroforestry management, group management dynamics, and technical trainings on topics such as medicinal plants and handicrafts
• Commercial agreements signed between four native communities and a private organisation to commercialise the products from agroforestry plots, facilitating the establishment of 40 agroforestry plots in these communities
• The development of an Indigenous Business Network which facilitated connections between organisations to support commercial relations and articulation of agroforestry products in the market. The network includes indigenous productive units, public and private organisations and NGOs from Ucayali and Madre de Dios
• A carbon sequestration project design to support the establishment of carbon sequestration business models linked to agroforestry practices, with documentation outlining opportunities for projects which could benefit 15 indigenous communities
• An indigenous MRV system implemented in Ucayali, integrating traceability mechanisms for agroforestry products with forest/ land use monitoring capabilities

Following initial assessment, the project identified that native communities lacked the technical business and financial knowledge required for sustainable land management and utilising available opportunities. In this context, it targeted sustainable agroforestry businesses that could contribute to improving indigenous peoples’ livelihoods. The project proposal was also presented to local communities so members could contribute their own traditional knowledge and experiences and take greater ownership.

By embedding inherent GESI benefits and generating buy-in in this way, the project successfully facilitated the opening up of new economic opportunities for native communities, alongside the climate benefits of increasing agroforestry on the lands of these communities.

The key GESI benefits noted by the project include:

• Developing local skills of both women and men within native communities enabled access relevant information, improved knowledge and practical applications. These trainings provided a detailed understanding of the importance and benefits of carrying out sustainable agroforestry businesses and putting degraded land to use - both conserving indigenous land and generating additional income through selling carbon credits
• Community members state that gender equality across activities has been enhanced by ensuring the participation of men, women, and LGBTQI+ individuals in gender equality workshops serving to explain to the communities that a gender approach is important for everyone and that to achieve true gender equality, all individuals and family members should be engaged
• The team also developed a virtual platform for associations in the business network to collaborate and access information/trainings while providing skills development in IT to indigenous men and women to support the platform in the future

The project built a model supporting poverty alleviation in native communities of the Peruvian Amazon through scaling up agroforestry businesses which can significantly contribute to climate change mitigation. It also provided recommendations for taking forward the outputs and enhancing capacity building benefits:

• Continue promoting attitude shifts in community members relating to gender, encouraging men and women to equally organise productive activities by distributing tasks and responsibilities equitably
• Encourage active participation of producer committees within native communities in the "network of indigenous business associativity" through regular meetings (online/in-person) to discuss topics focused on the value chains of agroforestry products
• Establish more agroforestry plots, considering the characteristics of each community and the market conditions
• Continue developing capacity and providing technical assistance to communities, focusing on maintenance of agroforestry plots, harvest and post-harvest of products
• Consolidate the agroforestry value chain strengthening the links with Nii Biri in Ucayali and Coopaser in Madre de Dios