By Cristina Sánchez
Servindi, December 08, 2016.- The Governors of Loreto and San Martín participated in one of the last events of the twenty-second Conference of the Parties (COP22), and were part of the event "Jurisdictional Sustainability: From Bottom to Top, An Integrated Proposal to Reduce Deforestation.”
Several international institutions, including Derecho, Ambiente y Recursos Naturales - DAR (Law, Environment and Natural Resources) of Peru, organized this space. Jorge Viana, Senator from Brazil; Gustavo Sánchez, Mexican indigenous representative; Víctor Manuel Noriega, Governor of San Martín; Fernando Sampaio, Governor of Mato Grosso; Juan Carlos Vila, Regional Environment Manager; And Jeff Seabright, Head of Sustainability at Unilever also attended.
Productive Chains in Loreto
The central topic of the event was the development of productive chain activities as a solution to stop the activities that cause the deforestation of the forests, or also known as megadrivers.
An example of this is the Loreto region that, as Juan Carlos Vila explained, has lived the last 25 years thanks to oil economy. However, as he made that statement, he also argued that in order to develop sustainably, it had been necessary to change the entire region’s economic matrix.
Being the largest province in the entire Peruvian territory and housing 26 language groups, Loreto found a challenge of space and pluriculturalism. This challenge, and that of changing the economy of the region, found a response in the so-called productive chains.
Within the examples of sustainable productive chains, Vila mentioned the sustainable gastronomy project, promoted by the Amazónicos por la Amazonía - AMPA (Amazonian for the Amazon) project. This project seeks to revalue the use of river fish to make typical Peruvian dishes, such as with the ceviche de paiche.
Another example is the company Aje, who for some time has been using camu camu in their products.
San Martín Brand
On his part, the Governor of San Martin, Victor Noriega, presented the example of the San Martin brand as the production and protection of the region’s natural resources approach, developed by the government of San Martin. This initiative is boosting all the actors in the region and the Amazon, who are fighting against deforestation and control of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG)
Víctor Noriega sees these activities as an environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive investment for his region. The objective is to provide competitive products at a national and international level and achieve the buen vivir (good living) of its population.
"We will try to boost this productive development with the different value chains and generate greater income for the producers while avoiding deforestation"
He also commented that they have also encountered difficulties, such as articulating work between different levels of the national, subnational government and cooperation, speaking the same language and working so that funds are not lost in bureaucratic activities.
Territorial Security
Finally, Gustavo Sánchez, representative of 54 indigenous peoples in Mexico, emphasized on the territorial security needed by indigenous peoples. As Sánchez indicates, indigenous peoples are often excluded from participating in productive chains because they do not have title deeds or the ability to access bank loans.
"We must strengthen the government’s initiative, as well as the market and companies. Likewise, those who buy wood should inquire about its origin and not be indifferent to deforestation"
He also commented that not all changes depend on resources and the resource provision from developed countries, but on the agreement at national and subnational levels as well.
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Traducción: Natalia León
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