Indigenous Landscapes First Quarterly Report FY 2013

The project aims to conserve critical biodiversity found on indigenous lands and in surrounding areas, vital to ecosystem functioning and indigenous livelihoods. The initiative prioritizes areas for conservation, restoration, and natural resource use, ensuring long-term sustainability. The project focuses on six core sites in the Andean Amazon, including the indigenous territories of Peru and Ecuador. The initiative's overall objective is to strengthen indigenous organizations' capacity to influence investments affecting their lands and surrounding areas, support natural resource management, and address threats to their livelihoods. The project's three specific objectives are to: 1) strengthen indigenous organizations in areas they identify as strategically important, 2) reduce threats to indigenous lands and biodiversity areas, and 3) establish sustainability mechanisms for natural resource management and conservation actions. In the Sierra del Divisor landscape, FECONAU developed a land and natural resource management plan with the participation of its members. The plan will be implemented in 2013-2014. Additionally, the project has supported the formalization and operation of two fisheries surveillance systems in the district of Horizonte, helping to strengthen indigenous capacity for monitoring and sustainable management of aquatic resources. In the Cumbaza River watershed, CEDISA and TNC organized a workshop to present tools for conservation, defining strategies to strengthen water management. The project also supported the Regional Group for Monitoring Megaprojects in Ucayali, which advocated for changes to the Pucallpa-Cruzeiro do Sul road project, avoiding indigenous territories and reserves. The project has also established agreements with various stakeholders, including the United States Department of the Interior, to share experiences and best practices in natural resource management and conservation. The initiative's incorporation of a gender perspective has included workshops and interviews with representatives from each partner organization. The project's progress in the first quarter of 2013 includes the development of a deforestation map for the Ucayali Department, the implementation of a community forest observatory in the Lower Pachitea landscape, and the establishment of a fisheries surveillance system in the district of Horizonte. The project's overall goal is to ensure long-term sustainability of indigenous lands and biodiversity areas, vital to ecosystem functioning and indigenous livelihoods.