We began field work with Kichwa organizations in San Martin

The research team of the project "Indigenous Visions for Climate Justice" conducted a field trip to Tarapoto, Chazuta and Lamas to talk with different Indigenous Peoples Groups regarding their perspectives on climate change and the policies that have been developed in their territories. 

The team formed by sociologists Maritza Paredes (principal researcher and project coordinator), Anke Kaulard (intermediate researcher), Danitza Gil (junior researcher), and Kichwa leader Bequer Tuanama (intercultural field assistant) met with authorities and members of federations and communities of the Kichwa people, the largest in the San Martin region, as part of the fieldwork carried out between Tuesday, February 28 and Saturday, March 18 of this year.

With the collaboration of organizations such as FEPIKECHA, FEPIKBHSAM, FEPIKRESAM, CEPKA and FEKIHD, the project was socialized and conversations were established with Apus, community members of different ages, from 9 native communities selected in the San Martin region. In addition, local government officials (provincial and district) were interviewed, as well as private initiatives and NGOs, who complemented with scopes of complexity in the territory. In total, about 45 interviews - semi-structured, ethnographic and participatory workshops - were conducted as part of the research component in the Peruvian Amazon.

This fieldwork is part of the action-research project "Contributions of Indigenous Peoples' knowledge systems to just climate action: Envisioning justice-informed adaptation through Indigenous Peoples' knowledge systems in Chile and Peru". This project aims to explore the contributions of Indigenous Peoples to climate adaptation and thereby contribute to their incorporation into state processes in Chile and Peru, as well as to capture lessons that can be applicable to other countries. This project is developed by the PUCP, in cooperation with the University of Chile and The Nature Conservancy. It is also funded by the IDRC of Canada.

The research component on the Peruvian side focuses on the ACR - Cordillera Escalera Natural Protected Areas and the Cordillera Azul National Park. Based on these case studies, the aim is to analyze how Peruvian State policies on climate change land in specific territories, identifying progress, challenges and potentialities. From these, it is made visible how Indigenous Peoples' Groups have been shaping or directing these processes, and how the climate change issue is closely related to broader justice claims of Indigenous Peoples, such as the struggle for territory, recognition and titling; access to basic services; protection of forests; ancestral knowledge and gender equity.

This trip is the first of two scheduled visits to the region this year. In the second semester, the project team will return to the same communities to continue with the exchange of information, co-creation through artistic-participatory methodologies (such as talking maps and timelines), and to socialize the progress of the research as part of its social impact component (dissemination and feedback). Until the end of the project in April 2025, from these exchanges, in articulation with the documentary review and field work in Lima, the team expects to create greater understanding of how to convert the ideas on climate justice of these Indigenous Peoples Groups into concrete adaptation actions and/or policies. This is expected to open greater opportunities for native communities and their representative bodies to be a more central vehicle to support the conceptualization, design and implementation of climate change policies.