Indigenous communicators and spokespeople ask for monitoring climate funds

The meeting finished with a set of agreements and commitments for the forests protection. These demands are directed to the Peruvian State, the United Nations and the international community.

Servindi, june 12, 2017.- About 50 indigenous communicators and spokespeople from the peruvian region of Ucayali, concluded a three-day training program, which main focus was the Amazonian forests protection.

This way, the workshop called Forest Governance Agreements: Forest Transparency and Monitoring, held in Yarinacocha, Ucayali addressed issues such as land titling, climate funds transparency, forest governance, expansion of oil palm monoculture and deforestation, among other problems.

However, during the three days that took place the workshop –from 1 to 3 june– each working day of learning became also a space for discussion, debate and proposal against the problems that the amazon is facing.

One of the main agreements is to request peruvian Government to strengthen and expand the participation spaces and civil society and indigenous organizations involvement for the different climate funds to manage in a transparent and inclusive manner, and this way ensure their efficient application for the forests conservation.

The event highlighted the importance of involving indigenous peoples in order to promote transparency and monitoring climate funds and the need to empower the indigenous communicators’ participation through information, specialized training, research and diffusion.

Emphasis was also focused on the need of promoting active and equal indigenous women participation in all decision-making areas on REDD+ processes and the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI); the women access to territorial and forest governance and ensure their participation in the communal titling processes.

The workshop was organized by Servicios en Comunicación Intercultural Servindi,  Organización Nacional de Mujeres Indígenas Andinas y Amazónicas (ONAMIAP),  Fundación Friedrich Ebert with the participation of the association  Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (DAR) and Programa Pro Tierras Comunales from the German cooperation.

The event was funded by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), through the International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA).

El evento se realizó con recursos de la Agencia Noruega de Cooperación (NORAD), a través del Grupo Internacional de Trabajo sobre Asuntos Indígenas (IWGIA).

Know more about the agreements on the document below:

Forest Governance Workshop Agreements: Forest Transparency and Monitoring

Held in Yarinacocha, Ucayali, from June 1 to June 3 2017

The indigenous communicators and spokespeople of the Ucayali region and other places in the Amazon gathered during three days of active participation in the workshop "Forest Governance: Transparency and Forest Monitoring". It was held on June 1, 2 and 3 in Yarinacocha, Ucayali, which was not only a training space, but also for analysis, reflection, debate and proposal. We agreed that:

Considering:

That despite the importance of forests for global climate regulation, we are deeply concerned that deforestation and degradation of the Amazonian tropical forests are deepening and worsening by illegal logging, illegal mining, colonization, monoculture plantations, drug trafficking, among others, which have led to the systematic dispossession of ancestral lands and the violation of the indigenous peoples’ collective rights.

The Ecosystems and biodiversity of the Amazon forests in Ucayali continue to be degraded and contaminated, affecting the various functions they fulfill and damaging the living conditions of the communities that depend on them for survival.

That the setbacks suffered by the Amazon occur before of the national and regional authorities eyes, who are incapable of curbing the systematic dispossession of communal lands, such as the one suffered by the Santa Clara de Uchunya Community by oil palm companies Grupo Melka. The Regional Agrarian Directorate of Ucayali supported this, since it granted rights to third parties on ancestral lands of the community that were then transferred to the palm oil companies.

That the systematic and continuous territorial dispossession actions have created a context of hostility and criminalization of leaders, leaders, environmental advocates and indigenous communicators, who receive threats and are stigmatized in the media, creating a climate of insecurity for indigenous peoples and their representatives.

That the commercial media are usually alien to the communities’ sufferings, they do not reflect the interest and the perspective of the indigenous peoples, and prioritize the coverage of urban themes and others that are outside the concern of the indigenous Amazonian rural population. Consequently, the indigenous and climatic agenda for forests defense does not find adequate coverage in the main press, which responds mainly to private interests.

That the indigenous peoples in Peru are practically prevented from enjoying their right to communication, and cannot find the means or channels to exercise their right to freedom of expression, because the Peruvian State does not guarantee or implement adequate policies to promote community radio, television and digital means.

That the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) is an important international commitment signed by the Kingdom of Norway, the Government of Germany and the Government of Peru, to protect Amazonian forests, reduce emissions generated by global warming and contribute to sustainable development. Indigenous peoples are fully aligned with this objective, safeguarding the collective rights that we as indigenous peoples possess, and which are duly recognized in international legal instruments such as the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention No. 169 of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which the JDI recognizes.

We agreed:

1. To express our special thanks and appreciation to the Norwegian and German governments for their cooperation in the fight against climate change. To urge the Peruvian Government to fulfill its commitments in the framework of the JDI, working hand in hand with indigenous peoples and involving them in all stages and processes in order to ensure the successful implementation of their plans, goals and results.
2. To request the Peruvian government, at its various levels, to ensure, strengthen and expand the civil society and indigenous organizations spaces for participation and involvement in the search for an efficient articulation between the State and the  Indigenous Peoples, so that the different climate funds (Green Fund, World Bank, IDB, IFP, among others) are managed in a transparent and inclusive manner and ensure their efficient application for forest conservation.
3. To demand and emphasize the importance of the involvement of indigenous peoples in promoting the transparency and monitoring of climate funds and the need to empower the participation of indigenous communicators through information, specialized training, research and dissemination.
4. To promote the active and equal participation of indigenous women in all decision-making areas on the REDD+ and JDI processes; the access of women to territorial and forest governance and ensure their participation in the communal titling processes.
5. To request the involvement of Red de Comunicadores Indígenas del Perú-Ucayali - REDCIP-Ucayali (Indigenous Communicators Network of Peru-Ucayali), Organización de Mujeres Indígenas - ORDEMI (Organization of Indigenous Women) and other indigenous organizations in order to expand indigenous involvement in the transparency and monitoring of climate funds, and in particular of the JDI, in order to contribute to the achievement of its objectives.
6. To request the promotion and sponsorship of communication campaigns and actions in indigenous languages, with an intercultural approach to the transparency and monitoring of climate funds and to strengthen indigenous involvement in the JDI framework of objectives. In this regard, we consider it is important to coordinate the JDI communication activities with the Red de Comunicadores Indígenas del Perú - REDCIP (Indigenous Communicators of Peru Network) and to involve indigenous communicators and spokespeople in the DCI communication strategies and plans.
7. To reaffirm the importance of building and implementing a Safeguards Information System that guarantees and ensures full respect of the indigenous peoples’ collective rights in the implementation of REDD+ and other projects and initiatives that relate to forests.
8. To request the JDI-UNDP (United Nations Development Program) to support the inclusion, training and effective involvement of indigenous and intercultural Amazonian communicators in the implementation of the JDI until its completion with logistical resources and a decent budget, to promote decentralized workshops at regional, provincial and district level to ensure indigenous involvement.
9. To request the involvement of indigenous professionals and technicians in titling plans and processes, taking into account the indigenous peoples’ ethnic and cultural diversity and their territoriality.
10. To support the license request for Radio Shipibo before the Ministry of Transport and Communications (MTC, in Spanish) (AM / FM), requested by the Shipibo, Konibo Xetepo Council (COSHIKOX, in Spanish) represented by its president Ronald Suárez Maynas This is an important initiative to access Ucayali region indigenous media (File E-130702-2017). Likewise, the license request of other indigenous radio stations such as Radio Wampis, an indigenous broadcaster from Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Wampis – GTANW (Autonomous Territorial Government of Wampis Nation) and allocate public budget for the promotion of indigenous community media.
11. To express our solidarity with the indigenous population of the Atalaya province, which is facing a critical situation of chronic malnutrition and demand that the authorities from the health sector give immediate attention to this emergency.
12. To report human trafficking and forced labor that afflicts the indigenous population throughout the Amazon due to mining and illegal logging and affect indigenous populations of diverse localities of the country, especially in Madre de Dios, causing serious damages and consequences in the physical, mental and moral health of the people subjected to these social vexations.
13. We express our solidarity with the peoples and communities of the Madre de Dios region who face the same problems as the indigenous peoples in the Ucayali region, aggravated by illegal mining, which has devastated many forest areas and polluted their rivers. In this regard, we request more support for indigenous communicators in this region in order to implement communication strategies that will empower their organizations and strengthen them to address threats against the forests.
14. To send a letter addressed to the Ministry of the Environment (MINAM, in Spanish), the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation (MINAGRI, in Spanish), the Government of the Kingdom of Norway, the Government of Germany and the Regional Government of Ucayali (GOREU, in Spanish) to transmit the agreements, demands and workshop commitments.

Our Commitments

We also undertake the following commitments:

• Disseminating the entire process and actions derived from the Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI) until its conclusion or end, actively integrating in the various spaces and activities in order to contribute to the reinforcement and broadcasting.
• Strive to articulate inter-institutional efforts to reach strategic alliances from indigenous peoples and strengthen communication actions that follow up on climate commitments for the defense of forests.
• Follow up on participation, training and broadcasting commitments.
• Include the demand for a transparent and effective process for JDI resources on the agenda and platform of the Gran Movilización Indígena Democrática y Pacífica (Greater Democratic and Peaceful Indigenous March) on June 5. The march will be held in Ucayali and nationwide, in order to attend and promptly execute the titling demand and expansion of the indigenous communal territories.
• Constitute an Amazonian multi-ethnic delegation from Ucayali to engage indigenous communicators and women in all JDI processes, in their various levels and areas of implementation, and in other climate funds and resources that are oriented toward forest protection.

Pucallpa, June 3, 2017