For three days, the city of Iquitos was the setting for the III National Meeting of Women in Conservation, an event that brought together ten women leaders from five regions of the Peruvian Amazon during the 4th to September 6th.
This space allowed both indigenous women and women from local communities to share their experiences, challenges and achievements in the leadership of conservation initiatives. Through thematic sessions and open dialogues, participants presented their projects and discussed the challenges they face in their communities.
Valbina Miguel, a Yanesha leader from Pasco, commented on the importance of working together: ‘Each of us is working for the service of our villages, our families and our communities. This meeting has allowed us to connect our experiences and learn from each other”, while María Ermila Yzquierdo, a grantee from San Martín said that “this space has allowed us to connect our experiences and learn from each other”.
The event was also an opportunity to visit the Mujer Semilla, or Woman Seed initiative, in the community of Centro Arenal, led by Zoila Ochoa. In 2022, Zoila was a grantee of the Amazon Indigenous Women's Program, with which she implemented educationaladn didactic materials to teach children and youth the Murui Buue language and traditions. In alliance with Conservation International, she developed her initiative Mujer Semilla, a communal effort led by 9 women from the community to revalue the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants and promote reforestation in a 1.7 hectare plot through an agroforestry system.
Bibi Gutiérrez, Conservation International's Intercultural Coordinator, highlighted the importance of this initiative: ‘Zoila continues to work tirelessly for her community. Now, with the Mujer Semilla project, she and other women are reforesting and recovering medicinal plants for the benefit of future generations. Today, the women's association that Zoila leads not only seeks to preserve the traditional knowledge of medicinal plants, but also to generate income in the long term through the sale of these species; and in the short term through ecotourism’.
Initiatives like this one show the transformative power of women, who lead not only the protection of their territories, but also the strengthening of their cultures. Mirko Ruiz, Senior Gender and Safeguards Coordinator at Conservation International, pointed out: ‘Women in Conservation is an initiative that seeks to amplify the voices of women leaders to generate positive impacts in their communities’.
WOMEN IN CONSERVATION
Women in Conservation is an initiative led by Conservation International Peru that supports women's leadership through a dedicated fund aimed at generating opportunities and strengthening the leadership of women from local and Indigenous communities who are contributing to climate change solutions. As part of this initiative is the Amazon Indigenous Women's Programme. To date, more than 63 indigenous women and 9 women located in the Alto Mayo Protected Forest have been strengthened by this initiative.