A look at our project’s recent community action for Amazon Rainforest Day

Just the gist

Short on time? Here’s what you need to know for this update:

• 🛡️ Protecting communities from dangerous threats — 40+ Indigenous forest monitoring patrols helped identify primary routes for illegal loggers and local armed groups.
• 🤝 Creating strong relationships against the odds — A meeting with national and international stakeholders was at risk due to local crime, so our partners moved it to a location 1000km away so it could proceed.
• 🛰️ Expanding training for rainforest monitoring — Our partner’s education program is growing, now at 54 trained Indigenous community forest monitors within 14 Indigenous communities.

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Protecting communities from dangerous threats

The Bajo Amazonas Region is among the most dangerous areas in the western Amazon, straddling the borders of Peru, Brazil, and Colombia. It is remote and difficult to access, with routes controlled by local armed groups associated with cartels. Crimes against humanity and the environment, such as human trafficking, child labor, the loss of Indigenous territories, the theft of natural resources, and the imposition of rules and restrictions by illegal armed actors, all pose a risk to the local communities.

However, our Tech-enabled rainforest protection project in the Bajo Amazonas Region recently identified the primary routes for illegal logging as well as key actors.

This past June, at least 42 Indigenous forest monitoring patrols submitted evidence of six deforestation hotspots to state and international agencies. Given recent homicides in the region, it is much safer for groups to file a combined complaint of activities with authority bodies so that one person or one community is not retaliated against.

Mapping the movement of the illegal goods is critical for developing a plan to address them as well as understanding the security needs of the nearby communities. Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS) and partners will continue to track the incidents and results of illegal logging in the community forest monitoring database.

With the help of Wren supporters like you, RFUS is working with Indigenous partners to focus on the communities facing the highest incidence of illegal logging of valuable trees.

Creating strong relationships against the odds

This important project doesn’t go unnoticed! The local government has recognized our project’s forest patrollers for their efforts over the past year. The Rainforest Alert program has supported important relationships with local authorities—a top priority for partners, communities, and trained forest monitors.

In late July, RFUS held a meeting to address illegal logging and the timber trade in the Bajo Amazonas Region. This meeting was originally planned to be in Cabollococha, but was moved to Lima (more than 1000 kilometers away) due to organized crime and corruption in the area.

Despite the sudden change, it was an important meeting for project participants to report their findings and cases to authorities. Representatives from the US Forest Service, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the Peruvian National Forest Service, and the Peruvian Agency for the Supervision of Forest Resources and Wildlife were present. By taking part in the project, these authorities are providing communities protection from criminal networks. With authorities involved, bad actors are less likely to directly attack or confront the communities we support.

Expanding training for rainforest monitoring

Our partners on the ground are currently giving Indigenous communities the tools they need to fight illegal logging—such as low-cost technology, remote sensing information, and training. Seven communities took part in five technology workshops about our partners’ Rainforest Alert methodology. In the first six months of 2023, RFUS provided additional training to communities in the region that have been active in the Ticuna monitoring network since 2018. This now brings the total to 54 trained Indigenous community forest monitors within 14 Indigenous communities.

And working with the local people is key here—deforestation is consistently lower in areas with Indigenous management, conservation payments, or community forest management, all key elements of the Rainforest Alert project.

Moving forward, RFUS will continue to provide training in community forest monitoring, governance, and advocacy, working with partners to submit coordinated complaints of illegal logging in the tri-border area. And, thanks to Wren supporters, trained Indigenous community members will continue to patrol against and stop illegal logging.

That's all for this update!
— the Wren team 🧡