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The Amazon is the largest remaining area of tropical rainforest on Earth. These forests, which are about twice the size of India, play a vital role in regulating the global climate and providing other services such as water purification and carbon sequestration.
There are 33 million people in the Amazon and approximately 420 indigenous communities who directly depend on Amazon resources for their water and food needs, as well as for their livelihoods. These livelihoods and lifestyles are intrinsically linked to forest conservation and biodiversity protection. The Amazon is home to more than half of all terrestrial animal, plant and insect species.
The FAO-led Amazon Protected Areas Integration (IAPA) project is supporting park steward communities in Amazon protected areas (RedParques) in Latin America and the Caribbean and ensuring effective and collaborative oversight of these areas. By strengthening governance processes, the IAPA project is helping to protect local and indigenous communities and their livelihoods, safeguarding the biodiversity of the Amazon biome and supporting the management of one of the world’s most important ecosystems.
For centuries, the Amazon region has been home to millions of people who have lived in harmony with nature. These communities have developed lifestyles and farming methods that protect the land and its resources.
Climate change threatens not only the Amazon’s natural resources, but also the lives and livelihoods of its inhabitants.
Jorge Job Trigoso, a community member from Villa Florida, is one of 10 communities and approximately 306 families engaged in Brazil nut management in Bolivia’s Manulipe National Wildlife Refuge. A few kilometers away, Omar Masx from the community of Curichón also benefits from sustainable acai and Brazil nut production. They both have one thing in common: they are both forest guardians.
“Here, we don’t cut down plants; this is a protected area, we don’t cut down trees or log; we know where we live,” said Jorge Trigoso, pointing to the large tracts of forest surrounding his home.
The Manulipi Reserve, located on the border of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru, covers 747,000 hectares and is one of the areas with the highest wildlife diversity in Bolivia. The reserve also contains the Madre de Dios and Manulipi rivers, two of the most important rivers in the Amazon Basin.
Protected areas like Manulipi are considered one of the best ways to protect biodiversity and the natural response to climate change, as forests reduce greenhouse gases. While protecting ecosystems, protected areas also preserve the cultural values of local people and promote their traditional ways of managing natural resources.
A Vision to Protect the Amazon
The Integration of Protected Areas in the Amazon (IAPA) project was developed by FAO, with RedParques as the main implementing partner, together with IUCN, UNEP, WWF and the European Union. The project involves the eight countries that make up the Amazon biome (Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela) and the territory of French Guiana.
The IAPA project promotes effective and collaborative monitoring of protected areas in the Amazon. This helps minimize the impacts of climate change on the Amazon biome and increases the resilience of people’s livelihoods to these environmental changes. By ensuring a regional and transboundary approach to the Amazon, the project better protects its biodiversity and safeguards the communities and local economies that depend on the Amazon for food and livelihoods.
“We have to take care of the forest. For example, we used to cut down açaí trees to get their fruit. Now we don’t do that anymore; we climb the trees to get it. We have to take care of the trees because we live off them,” Omar explains.
In Manulipi, the economy is largely based on forest resources, especially açaí and Brazil nuts. Today, the Manulipi people are also experimenting with sustainable açaí production. The sustainable management of açaí and Brazil nuts has become a model for Amazonian communities. For example, Brazil nuts have even received international certification for quality products.
The Southern Landscape (El Paisaje Sur) is one of the two priority action areas of the IAPA project. It is composed of the Manulipe National Wildlife Refuge (Bolivia), the Chandlis State Park and the Kazumba-Iracema Extractive Reserve (Brazil), the Alto Purus Natural Park and the Purus Communal Reserve (Peru).
What we are protecting
For Jorge, Omar and communities across the Amazon, achieving sustainable livelihoods and protecting the Amazon’s resources are essential to survival.
But no matter where we live on Earth, the Amazon benefits us in ways we don’t even realize. It absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and purifies our water; these are actions we take for granted, but without which our world would be different. What happens in the Amazon affects us all.
“The Amazon is the lungs of the world; it is so important because of the services it provides to countries around the world,” stressed Andrea Barreiro, a Colombian national parks official.
Coordinated protection
Communities like Jorge and Omar are learning how to use the Amazon’s resources responsibly. By working with agencies in protected areas in Brazil and Peru, these communities are learning from each other and adopting best practices for conserving the region. This learning and exchange of ideas and experiences enriches the IAPA project.
The project coordinates action plans and experiences among countries of the Amazon biome through joint training and workshops, providing a broader perspective for cooperation among Amazon countries and thinking beyond national borders.
Between 2011 and 2015, 44 new protected areas were established in the region. The IAPA project ensures that these areas are well coordinated and managed using a regional approach. To date, more than 170 million hectares of land in the Amazon region have been protected, and the project’s vision is to explore further conservation priorities for the benefit of local people.
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