The Central-Northern Jungle Program focuses on territorial ordering and the proper management of three large mosaic territories that include indigenous communities, reserves for indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation and natural protected areas in the Huanuco and Ucayali regions. These long-term efforts aimed at providing legal stability to native communities and indigenous peoples living in isolation, as well as achieve sustainable development for local populations.

The program covers 3.5 million hectares of Peruvian Amazon that are characterized by enormous cultural and biological diversity fed Pachitea, Aguaytía, Callería, Utuquinia and Abujao rivers, all tributaries of the Ucayali River.

The program and the indigenous people

The program’s three areas of intervention include numerous communities belonging to different indigenous peoples, such as the Asháninkas, Yaneshas, Cacataibos, Shipibos and Isconahuas, as well as riverine communities and settlers from the Andes. There are more than 150 titled indigenous communities and several others where titling and/or approval of expansion request are pending. There are also indigenous peoples living in isolation, such as the Isconahuas, who receive state protection though a territorial reserve that carried their name, and the Cacataibos, who could benefit from the territorial reserve that was first proposed in 1999 but not yet approved. In terms of conservation, the area is home to three natural protected areas, the El Sira Communal Reserve, Cordillera Azul National Park and the Sierra del Divisor Reserve Zone.

Objectives of the program

The consolidation and proper management of these three mosaic territories imply several medium-term objectives:
Contribute to territorial ordering of the central-northern jungle to reduce conflicts caused by superimposition of property and rights to resources;

• Achieve legal security of indigenous territories, completing titling process for native communities and securing approval of territorial reserves for indigenous peoples living in isolation that are pending.
• Strengthen the social and cultural capital of communities and their organizations to manage their spaces, monitoring their territories for threats from unauthorized activities, foster the preparation of strategies for oversight and participation in caring for protected areas that border their communities and the territorial reserves of the Isconahua and Cacataibo peoples who live in isolation.
• Advocate, in conjunction with indigenous and non-indigenous organizations, for public policies to stop unsustainable and/or illegal exploitation of natural resources in forests, rivers and lakes.

The IBC works in close collaboration with grassroots groups in these three mosaic territories, including:

• Native Federation of Cacataibo Communities (FENACOCA),
• Federation of Native Communities of the Ucayali River and Tributaries (FECONAU),
• Federation of Native Communities of Puerto Inca and Tributaries (FECONAPIA) and
• Ucayali Regional Organization (ORAU), which groups together the previous two federations.

We also work with civil society organizations and different agencies representing the Ucayali regional government and local municipalities. We have established diverse strategic alliances to reach our goals.

At the same time, the coordinated actions of these organizations are aimed at advocating for public policies related to the legal guarantees for indigenous territories, considered an essential step for sustainable development.

Community members in these three mosaic territories participate in defining the program’s activities. Strengthening the capacities of indigenous communities and federations with respect to policy and technical management is considered to be vitally important. Key issues for training include the creation of the strategic alliances and effective relationships with local and regional governments and the private sector regarding policies that foster the development of indigenous peoples. Trainings also involve improving good governance, institutional administration and management in conservation plans and environmental management.

An important aspect is learning how to work with municipal governments on the issue of environmental management and sustainable management of resources in forests, as well as in rivers and lakes. This requires the implementation of systems to monitor territories and protected natural areas, including reserves for indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation. A model based on the legal figure of the Municipal Environmental Council, which the IBC is developing with the Puerto Bermúdez municipal government and the ANAP indigenous organization along the upper Pachitea, could be replicated in the three mosaic regions. The model is aimed at empowering indigenous populations so that they have the capacity to guarantee their territorial rights in the face of constant threats from unsustainable and/or illegal use of natural resources.

In the case of the Cacataibo indigenous peoples, who cannot defend themselves given their isolation, the program aims to provide legal security for their territory so that they can enjoy unrestricted movement. The project has placed the proposal for the Cacataibo Territorial Reserve on the regional agenda through coordinated work with indigenous populations and their federations in the central-northern jungle. It has also lobbied the Ucayali regional government to define a policy that protects Cacataibos living in isolation within the Protection, Defense and Contingency Plan for Peoples in Voluntary Isolation, which was prepared as part of a regional ordinance.