Ko'wen Poetsath becomes the first social enterprise up of 10 native communities who administer the Yanesha Communal Reserve.
© Conservation International/ ECA AMARCY
Located in the Pasco region, this Reserve and its partner communities cover more than 74,000 hectares of tropical cloud forests of great diversity of flora and fauna.
Created in 1988, it was the first Communal Reserve to sign a contract with the Peruvian government in 2006 for the joint administration of its territory's resources; a co-management model between the Peruvian Parks Authority (SERNANP) and the Reserve's partner indigenous communities, represented by an ECA (Executor of an Administration Contract).
Towards Financial Sustainability
One of the main challenges for the co-management of Peru's Communal Reserves is the financial sustainability to conserve its forest and govern their territory.
Ko'wen Poetsath (Beautiful Forest in Yanesha), is an initiative of the native communities and the Reserve that allow producers to connect with the private sector and develop value chains from the various products sustainably obtained within their communal territories.
This has been possible with the support of Our Future Forests-Amazonia Verde project, an initiative promoted by Conservation International together with the National Association of Contract Executors for the Administration of Communal Reserves of Peru (ANECAP) and the NGO DRIS, Sustainable Rural Development. "The sustainable use of wild cocoa from the forests, as well as cocoa grown in agroforestry farms, can improve the income of Yanesha women and men. In this way, the enterprise of the ECA in Yanesha is one of the first that Conservation International Peru will support outside of Alto Mayo, where productive and commercial capacities are already being strengthened in the coffee, cacao, vanilla and medicinal plant chains, among others," said Jorge Elliot, Manager of the Our Future Forests - Amazonia Verde Project.
Today 102 cocoa-producing families market the native, criollo and common cocoa beans from their sustainably managed territories of both their communities and the reserve. "Our cocoa will be marketed directly to a fairer market, and in the short term the income will allow us to improve its production within our Yanesha territory", says Erick Valerio, president of ECA in Yanesha territory.
Next Steps
In the future, the company hopes to market its other local products, such as handicrafts, fish, other organic products and by-products, as well as medicinal and aromatic plants. The Yanesha communities are also planning to promote ecotourism activities, organize trainings and workshops to strengthen their agricultural practices and seek marketing advice.
The Yanesha Communal Reserve has become an example for other indigenous communities seeking to participate more actively in the management of their own territories. This social enterprise model is being replicated by another Communal Reserve called Amarakaeri. "For ANECAP, social enterprises respond to the vision built by the leaders of the indigenous peoples (...) This vision implies the responsible use of the natural resources within the Communal Reserves, where the life of those who live in the territory primes over economic issues. Therefore, we are targeting special markets that value the standing forests and living culture," says Fermín Chimatani, president of ANECAP.
Our Future Forests – Amazonia Verde
Our Future Forests-Amazonia Verde is working to conserve up to 12% of the Amazon - some 73 million hectares by 2025 in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru and Suriname.
In Peru, the project is led by Conservation International with funding from the French government and is implemented by ANECAP and DRIS, in coordination with SERNANP, the Park Authority, contributing to the protection, restoration and sustainable management of tropical forests in the Amarakaeri, Yanesha and Machiguenga Communal Reserves.