Peru Green Initiative and Environmental Justice Programmes

Summary

The overall aim of the Peru Green Initiative and Reforestation Programme is to provide (a) alternative livelihoods to impoverished local communities dependent on deforestation and slash and burn farming techniques to survive; and (b) to reforest the Amazonian basin of Peru to absorb carbon emissions resulting from modern lifestyles in the UK for the benefit of current and future generations.

The project aims to provide UK based but globally responsible and environmentally conscious individuals and companies with a means to offset their carbon footprints and at the same time to support a charitable cause.

Project Narrative

Our Peru Green Initiative and reforestation programme works closely with Consejo Nacional del Ambiente (CONAM), the National Environmental Council of Peru, which is the national organisation that establishes environmental policies, the focal point of UN FCC and the legally Designated National Authority (DNA) for the Kyoto protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM). We support the work of Fondo Nacional del Ambiente (FONAM) which is the National Environmental Fund, the official CDM promotion office, working directly with the private and public sector, offering advice in the development of the projects, supporting the process of fundraising and financing for the project with national and international financial organisms, and undertaking the international promotion of the Peruvian projects before potential buyers and investors. In this context, we also work with Fondebosque and IISSAA.

We are working in partnership with the regional Government of Loreto with the full support and backing of the President of the Loreto region, together with three local environmentally conscious agencies, Fondebosque (the Peruvian fund for the promotion and development of forests), IISSAA (an international research institute focused on the development of the Amazonian region) and the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana (IIAP), which is the Research Institute for the Peruvian Amazon. We are also working with the local communities through their associations, using international and national environmental laws, policies and regulations that have been enacted to ensure equal access to global common resources. These policies and laws are directed towards the protection and sustainable use of natural resources and the environment for the equal benefit of all. We do this by working alongside victims of environmental injustice and by building alliances and voices at local and international level using legally binding or other existing structures and mechanisms.

Project Objectives Achieved within the project timeframe

Peru Green Initiative and Reforestation Programme aims to initially restore 3,611 ha of degraded and deforested land in Tamshiyacu-Tahuayo Regional Conservation Area and subsequently the rest of the 1,136,000 ha available in Loreto region through afforestation. The aim of the project is to restore these degraded lands (with soils that are naturally rich and fragile because of topography, climate, soil texture, etc.) in a cost-effective way, leading to the commercial production of timber, while allowing the reforestation with appropriate trees to achieve produce short-term income.

The following objectives have been met during the period:

• 2 local communities (the 10th of October and the 3rd of October Communities) have been twined and linked with corporate organisations in the UK. The linkages enable reforestation of the Amazon by the local community, which in turn benefits by having it community basic services and infrastructure upgraded. Nosh, Southwark Rose Hotel and Norbar support these communities.
• Contractual relationships have been forged between TI UK and a number of Peruvian organisations and regional governments to support the initiative. A formal contract will be signed between TI and the regional government.

Impact Assessment, Sustainability and future of the programme

The project has made major progress in developing a sustainable system of reforestation by local communities with the support of corporate entities and other stakeholders that will be used for replication in other areas.