FOREST OBSERVATORIES FOR THE DEFENCE OF INDIGENOUS TERRITORIES AND THE CONSERVATION

FOREST OBSERVATORIES FOR THE DEFENCE OF INDIGENOUS TERRITORIES AND THE CONSERVATION OF NATURE IN THE PERUVIAN AMAZON: THE EXPERIENCE OF THE NATIVE FEDERATION OF MADRE DE DIOS AND THE FORESTLINK PROJECT REPORT LA EXPERIENCIA DE LA FEDERACIÓN NATIVA DE MADRE DE DIOS Y EL PROYECTO FORESTLINK 1 Photo on cover and this page: Daniel Peña- FENAMAD. [...] What remains of the Amazon bio- me is there thanks to the will of the Indigenous Threats to peoples peoples to defend their territories, a will that and territories has not wavered in five centuries of invasions, kidnappings, tortures and murders linked to Since the arrival of European conquerors in colonial and republican exploitation. [...] Recent studies state that the Indigenous The fragility of regulations and their inconsistent population has much higher levels of mercury than and arbitrary enforcement, naturally respond to the non-Indigenous population and far above the powerful vested interests embedded in the Ama- maximum healthy limit established by the World zon and with influence in national politics. [...] FENAMAD receives these alerts and in the chain, represented by the limited capacity and centralises them in a single platform, allowing it the need for more resources from the authorities to to follow up on each case and identify trends. [...] This requires mobilising the that the participating communities have political and monetary resources to support renewed hope of obtaining justice and have monitoring structures’ technical and logistical reaffirmed their willingness to monitor and functioning, good governance of Indigenous or- defend their territories, seeing them not just ganisations and the transformation and impro- as a resourc.