In order to promote investments in the Peruvian Amazon and mitigate the impacts of climate change, the Business Alliance for the Amazon will invest more than S/300 million in sustainable businesses, which will directly benefit the people of the Amazon that conserve standing forests.
This platform, which is led by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Canada and Conservation International, facilitates and creates the necessary conditions for the development of business models that improve the quality of life of Amazonian communities, contributing to Peru’s national climate commitments and the Sustainable Development Goals.
© Conservación Internacional/Daniela Amico
"We are talking about helping the local population to develop sustainable economic activities, taking advantage of the huge biodiversity of the Amazon forests, and thus contribute to achieving international goals and commitments to reduce emissions that contribute to climate change," said Claudio Schneider, Senior Technical Director of Conservation International in Peru.
As part of ‘ExpoAmazonica 2022’, the biggest fair to promote organizations, businesses and investment in the Peruvian Amazon, important collaboration agreements were signed. One of them was with ‘Sierra y Selva Exportadora’, through which Conservation International Peru will join forces to identify Amazonian products that can be positioned outside the country such as organic coffee with fair price certification from cooperatives in protected areas, or aromatic infusions made by Awajún communities, vanilla, and cacao among other.
In this regard, the ‘Cooperativa de Servicios Múltiples Bosque del Alto Mayo’ (Coopbam), one of the first cooperatives to operate inside a protected natural area that has organic and fair trade certification and has managed to market its coffees in international markets such as Germany, the United States, Holland, Australia and Canada, was also present at the Expoamazónica.
Participating in this fair has allowed for other partnership to take place. Conservation International Peru and the Coalition for Sustainable Production will be working together to promote multi-stakeholder alliances and a favorable climate for sustainable business investments that will help consolidate sustainable landscapes within the Peruvian Amazon that will foster productive chains free of deforestation, with equal benefits to all.
© Conservación Internacional/Daniela Amico
The Amazon Business Alliance promotes the participation of women in business, empowering them economically and improving their entrepreneurial skills, as well as that of indigenous peoples, guaranteeing their participation in decision-making regarding inclusive public policies.
The Association of the Bosque de las Nuwas a great example of this type of endeavor. Aso present at the Expoamazonica, this female-led association who manage 10 hectares of forest have developed an eco-tourist destination, where their cultural customs and practices and its forest are its main attraction, and have developed as well a line of herbal teas inspired by the medicinal plants used ancestrally by their elders.
The Amazon Business Alliance is present in the regions of Madre de Dios, San Martin, Huanuco and Ucayali, where inter-institutional cooperation agreements have been signed with local governments in order to align public and private investment priorities; and will expand its scope to the regions of Amazonas, Pasco and Loreto to generate synergies and strengthen technical and innovation capabilities.