The Peruvian Amazon is one of the richest ecosystems in terms of biodiversity on the planet, comprising almost two thirds of the country. However, it faces significant conservation and development challenges. The Amazon loses about 150,000 hectares of forest per year and 4 out of 10 people in the rural Amazon live in poverty. However, local businesses based on products derived from Amazonian biodiversity can play a vital role in the preservation of this unique environment and generate better opportunities for local populations. But the reality of many of these businesses is that they are not entirely formal and lack many of the conditions necessary to grow, expand their markets and make them competitive.
Although public funding is available, many of these businesses in the Amazon face great challenges to access them, accentuated when they are small businesses, are located far from the cities, or are led by indigenous women. This makes working alongside them in the application process vital for their success in obtaining funds.
“It is essential that the businesses we identify for their economic, social and environmental potential are not excluded due to administrative issues. In some cases, we have supported them with legal procedures, such as their registration in the national administration entity, and in others worked with them on their business plans required by each of the public funding entities,” says Fernanda Eliot, senior coordinator of monitoring and evaluation of the Amazon Business Alliance, at Conservation International Peru.
A total of 18 businesses have been able to access these competitive funds, leveraging an amount that exceeds 6 million soles, or $USD 1.5 million . “We aim to prioritize economic initiatives that generate positive impacts on the territory, both socially and environmentally. Some have Conservation Agreements with protected areas or are strategically located in buffer zones or are adjacent to important areas such as the El Sira and Purús Communal Reserves, the Carpish and Ampiyacu Apayacu Montane Forest Regional Conservation Areas or the Alto Mayo Protected Forest,” adds Kary Ríos, manager of Conservation International Peru's Central Rainforest program.
These efforts have been successfully developed in Ucayali and Huanuco, and recently in Loreto and San Martin, where the businesses receiving funds range from aquaculture, handicrafts, coffee, honey, timber plantations, livestock, tourism and Amazonian fruits. “With these funds we will improve our tourism offer, demarcating the ecological routes, building checkpoints and placing information panels to improve the tourists' experience, and strengthening the management of these 586 hectares of forest,” says Francis Chauca, manager of a Conservation Association he leads in Pucallpa.
The real impact goes far beyond the immediate economic results. By empowering local entrepreneurs, the regional economy is strengthened, protecting the natural environment and promoting sustainable practices that improve the well-being of communities. This is the result of the vision and synergy of the Selva Central, Alto Mayo and Loreto teams of Conservation International Peru who have worked hand in hand with local partners and the Amazon Business Alliance, a platform promoted in collaboration with USAID and the Government of Canada.
“If the population settled in the Amazon is not able to cover their most basic needs, illegal activities will always be an alternative and a threat to the most important biome on the planet. Making biodiversity-based businesses thrive is a priority for Conservation International Peru,” says Luis Espinel, executive director and vice president of Conservation International Peru.