Amazon Indigenous Organizations to Strengthen Bioeconomy Capacities with IDB Support

Indigenous peoples support fund kicks off with Peru projects

Cali, COLOMBIA - Peru's indigenous organization AIDESEP has become the first such group to get a project approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), a move that will improve its bioenterprise management capabilities and the quality of production of 25 indigenous enterprises in nine Amazon regions.

It will also invest in the execution of Indigenous Life Plans, upholding their perspective on economic development, food sovereignty and territorial protection, as well as in the implementation of its indigenous bioeconomy business incubator. This incubator, the first of its kind, combines innovation, technology, and capacity building of indigenous technicians, promoting indigenous territorial governance at the local, regional and national levels.

The announcement was made during the UN Conference on Biodiversity, or COP16. The funding and technical support comes from the IDB's "Amazon for Life" fund, which arises from a partnership with COICA (Coordinating Committee of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin) and channels resources to indigenous organizations from the Multidonor Fund and the Green Climate Fund, within the framework of its holistic Amazon Forever program.

This fund, which has a total of $10 million in capital, is the first of its kind created to directly support projects of indigenous organizations, offering financial and technical support.

International funding dedicated to indigenous peoples is traditionally channeled through intermediary organizations, which generates a low rate of know-how transfer to beneficiary communities.

IDB Executive Vice President, Jordan Schwartz, highlighted the importance of an institution like the IDB working directly with indigenous organizations to contribute to strengthening their capacities. "We have a lot to learn with indigenous peoples. Their territories are among the most preserved in the Amazon," he said. "It is important to create conditions for them to be autonomous and be able to carry out their projects and retain the knowledge generated from these experiences for future generations."

For his part, the president of AIDESEP, Jorge Pérez Rubio, pointed out that there is plenty of climate financing for the Amazon, but it fails to reach directly the indigenous communities, whose economies have been hard hit by socio-environmental crimes hindering their aspirations to preserve their habitat and way of life. "We indigenous peoples also need to reactivate our indigenous economy according to our uses and customs. In this project with the IDB, we are seeking to strengthen and achieve sustainability from our Amazonian indigenous organizational structure at the territorial economic level," he said.

Two other projects are planned under the Amazon for Life fund:

• In Venezuela, with the indigenous organization ORPIA, the project will provide training to indigenous leaders in bioeconomics to strengthen their enterprises at the territorial level.

• In Ecuador, with the regional aboriginal organization CONFENIAE, which represents 1,500 communities, it will focus on strengthening biobusinesses led by indigenous communities and on improving partner organizations' institutional and capacity building skills.

The Amazon for Life Fund is open to all national indigenous organizations in the Amazon for project design and financing purposes.

Latin America and the Caribbean at COP16

The countries of Latin America and the Caribbean are a nature powerhouse and a critical part of the solution to biodiversity loss. In its three pavilions, the IDB is hosting more than 50 events with international leaders and experts to showcase initiatives on nature and biodiversity, and innovative approaches to nature-positive investments aiming to restore and conserve biodiversity. Journalists covering CO16 on site are welcome to visit the pavilions, with no registration required. Consult the event schedule here.

Find us at our Blue Zone pavilions:

Amazonia Siempre

Conservation International, Fondo Acción & IDB

Joint MDB: Nature, People, and Planet

About Amazonia Forever

Amazonia Forever is a holistic umbrella program that aims at protecting biodiversity and accelerating sustainable development in three lines of action: expanding funding, boosting knowledge exchange, and facilitating regional coordination among the eight Amazonian countries.

The program is based on five pillars: (i) Combating deforestation and strengthening environmental control and security in the context of national governments; (ii) Bioeconomy and creative economy, promoting alternative and sustainable economic activities; (iii) People, aiming at adequate access to quality education, healthcare, and employment; (iv) Sustainable cities and infrastructure and connectivity; and (v) Sustainable, low-carbon agriculture, livestock and forestry. In addition, the program focuses on promoting the inclusion of women, indigenous peoples, people of African descent and multicultural communities; climate and forest conservation; and strengthening institutional capacities and the rule of law.

About AIDESEP

AIDESEP, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest, has been working for 44 years for the collective rights of the indigenous peoples of the Peruvian Amazon, exposing their problems and presenting alternative development proposals that are in line with their worldview and lifestyle. It is led by a National Board of Directors elected every 5 years by its regional bases: 9 decentralized organizations located in the north, center and south of the Peruvian jungle. It also has 109 federations that participate in the elections through National Congresses in representation of 2439 communities where more than 650,000 indigenous men and women live, grouped in 19 linguistic families.

About COICA

The Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin is an international convergence grouping that acts on behalf of 511 indigenous peoples -- more than 60 of which are indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact (PIACI) -- articulated through grassroots political-organizational groups present in the Amazon countries.

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