The Muyuna Floating Film Festival showcased a unique floating screen, bringing films directly to riverside communities in the Peruvian Amazon. During the festival, Rainforest Foundation US supported an Indigenous Cinema Workshop, emphasizing the urgent need to understand these issues from the perspective of Indigenous peoples and local communities.
Here’s an insight at the heart of RFUS’s work: Lands legally controlled by Indigenous peoples and local communities show lower rates of deforestation—up to a 66% reduction in forest cover loss. Listen to Cameron Ellis and Kim Chaix of Rainforest Foundation US speak about the power of land titling.
RFUS celebrates a major victory as 20 Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon received land titles. Land titles are the most effective way to reduce deforestation in Indigenous peoples’ territory, resulting in a 66% reduction in forest cover loss.
After ten long years, justice was served on Thursday, April 11, for the victims of the emblematic Saweto case in the Ucayali region of Peru. The Court sentenced the five accused to 28 years and three months of imprisonment for the crimes against Ashéninka community leaders from Alto Tamaya – Saweto: Edwin Chota Valera, Jorge Ríos Pérez, Francisco Pinedo Ramírez, and Leoncio Quintisima Meléndez, who were brutally murdered on September 1, 2014.
Indigenous women in Ucayali and Loreto province, Peru, are shattering gender barriers and reshaping traditions. Despite enduring historical exclusion from leadership roles, they are now rewriting this narrative.
Discover how the Affirmative Measures Project, led by the Rainforest Foundation US team in Peru, is bridging the gap for women to actively participate and lead.
Rainforest Foundation US hosted events in the Peruvian Amazon to develop four pilot programs led by Indigenous communities to scale up effective conservation strategies. The Indigenous Tech Camps served as a collaborative platform, uniting various Indigenous organizations with academics, government officials, and international allies. These initiatives underscore our commitment to advancing Indigenous-led solutions in the Amazon.
A severe drought in the Amazon is disrupting transportation, isolating communities, and putting wildlife at risk for survival. Indigenous peoples in the region are urging their governments to declare a climate emergency.
The longstanding struggle for justice for the widows and families of the murdered Saweto activists remains unfulfilled. In February, the culprits behind the murder of four Indigenous leaders from the Alto Tamaya-Saweto community had been sentenced to 28 years in prison. Then last month, in an unexpected twist, the Peruvian court reversed this decision and threw out the charges to order a reassessment of the legal process.
The final declaration of the Amazon Summit, referred to as the Belém Declaration, has fallen short of expectations for collectively implementing crucial measures to protect the Amazon rainforest, its peoples, and the global climate. It notably lacks a commitment towards zero deforestation by 2030 and fails to address halting oil exploration in the region. Read our full statement.
Land titles are the most effective way to reduce deforestation rates in Indigenous peoples’ territory, resulting in a 66% reduction in forest cover loss. 17 land titles were secured for Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon in record time—more titles were established in ten months than were possible in the previous three years.
Indigenous women from rainforests around the world are uniting to fight for the health of the planet in their unique and powerful ways. Whether as activists, politicians, or mothers, they are bringing back ancestral knowledge and are determined to fight for their communities and the Earth.
As the year comes to a close we’re looking back at all of the amazing things we’ve accomplished in 2022, together! Check out our Year in Review.
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Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
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Didier has been coordinating the USAID-funded B’atz project since joining Rainforest Foundation US in April 2022. He holds a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor’s in Geography. Before joining the organization, Didier worked for 12 years in Central and South America on issues of transparency, legality, governance, and managing stakeholders’ processes in the environmental sector. Prior to that he worked on similar issues in Central Africa. He speaks French, Spanish, and English, and is based in Guatemala.
