Indigenous communities drive sustainable development

in Peruvian biosphere reserve

The Asháninka people have developed projects to promote sustainable consumption and resource management in the Oxapampa-Asháninka-Yanesha Biosphere Reserve, their ancestral home in the Amazon. The region, an important biodiversity hotspot, is threatened by human activities such as deforestation and indiscriminate fishing of tropical fish, classified as endangered species. The project enables Asháninka families to address this threat while generating income and quality of life. 

Since 2013, the Asociación Asháninka Productores de Peces Integral Sostenible (APIS), made up of 20 families living in the Oxapampa-Asháninka-Yanesha Biosphere Reserve, has implemented the installation of a paco fish (Piaractus brachypomus) fry breeding laboratory for consumption and sale. The project is part of the Sustainable Economic Activities Program (PAES) of the National Service of Natural Protected Areas of Peru (SERNANP).

Thanks to this laboratory, the members of the APIS have integrated their ancestral knowledge of aquaculture and fund management techniques in order to confront indiscriminate hunting and fishing. Now, the challenge they have set themselves is to share their capacity for sustainable development with other indigenous communities. Thus, in 2014 and 2015, part of the fry production (out of a total of 460,000) were distributed to other native communities in the area, in order to replicate the APIS experience.

The Oxapampa-Asháninka-Yanesha Reserve has been inhabited since time immemorial by indigenous communities such as the Yánesha (more than 8,000 inhabitants) and Asháninka (10,800 people) and Ashéninka (99 people), who live by fishing and hunting in communion and respect. Thus, the attacks on the Amazon directly influence their way of life, which is reflected in the depletion of their natural resources and the permanent risk of disasters, such as floods and floods resulting from the invasive manipulation of land and water.

This natural treasure of 1,800,000 hectares is part of one of the most important lungs of the planet: the Amazon, which is currently suffering the effects of indiscriminate extraction and manipulation of natural resources and the consequent climate change. The reserve's administrator, SERNANP, has identified problems in the area such as massive and selective forest extraction, excessive hunting and fishing, migratory agriculture, and inadequate use of agrochemicals.

Biosphere Reserves are true laboratories for sustainable development, in which solutions are promoted to reconcile biodiversity conservation, economic development, scientific research and education. In line with these principles, initiatives such as the APIS project propose alternative solutions that contribute to meeting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.