Mapas - Justicia Climática y Pueblos Indígenas

Perú

Critical Cartography

Indigenous Peoples in the Amazon are facing profound transformations in their territories due to climate policies that have turned their forests into strategic spaces for carbon capture and combating the climate crisis. The creation of protected natural areas and state access to climate funds have imposed new forms of territorial control, excluding the Kichwa from their management and restricting their access to the forest.

In this context, the "Indigenous Visions for Climate Justice" project began a process of documentation and analysis of Indigenous perspectives in 2022, where the creation of ANPs emerged as a point of conflict.

The objective of this critical mapping process is to reflect Indigenous organizations' representations of the forest from their territorial perspectives. Community leaders and research teams collaborated to map their biodiversity, tell their stories, and reaffirm their territorial rights.

Perú

Maps of the Kichwa People in San Martín

One of the project's case studies addresses the perspectives of the Kichwa people in San Martín, where we worked with communities to create these maps. In this region, more than a quarter of the territory is within a Natural Protected Area (NPA), including the Cordillera Escalera Regional Conservation Area (created in 2005) and the Cordillera Azul National Park (created in 2001).
The mapping was carried out in the Lower Huallaga River area, in Chazuta. As of 2022, only one indigenous community had a registered communal title, and it was the only one recognized during the establishment of these PNAs. However, the territories of other indigenous communities were left invisible in the establishment of these conservation areas.
Kichwa communities continue their struggle for recognition and legal security within the ANPs, promoting new land titling and management processes. They articulate their demands and proposals through their autonomous organizations (FEPIKECHA, FEPIKBHSAM, and CEPKA, as well as the bases of CODEPISAM and AIDESEP) and allies.

Lamas y Chazuta

First steps: Dialogues with Federations and participatory mapping with Kichwa communities

October 2022 - Meetings were held with the federations to learn about their perspectives, agendas, and proposals on the territory in order to refine the project's design and approach.
March 2023 - The first mapping workshops were held with four communities, which included hand-drawn maps, collective timelines, and shared stories. These were complemented by other data-generating methods, such as interviews and participant observation.
September 2023 - Socialization, discussion, and validation of the initial findings of the San Martín case investigation.

Chazuta, Bajo Huallaga

Methodological Refinement: Critical Mapping with Kichwa Communities

What began as a participatory exercise in ethnographic data collection transformed into a process of critical mapping, where Kichwa leaders and the research team collaborated to map their relationship with their territory, tell their stories, and reaffirm their rights.
September 2023 - Interdisciplinary work was developed, focusing on specific layers: territorial base, biodiversity, projects and infrastructure, political and social organization, and local culture.
Cartographic workshops were held to complement and refine previous maps, and to create a new one for another community involved in the research.

Remotely

Digital Representation

Based on mapping workshops with Kichwa communities, in-depth interviews, and documentary research, a digitalization process was developed to synthesize the layers of information and communicate with different audiences.
October 2023 - Digital versions of five community maps were produced. In addition, a general map of the Bajo Huallaga was created to reflect sociopolitical processes not reflected in official cartography.

Chazuta

Return, dialogues for advocacy

January 2024 - Delivery of the digitalized maps printed on fabric to the federations and communal authorities with toolkits for their intervention/updating.
Collective discussion with federations and community authorities to provide feedback on the process and possible uses of the maps.

Tarapoto, Lamas and Chazuta

Co-creation of capacities and continuation of the process

As part of the territorial strengthening process, a new project funded by the PUCP seeks to expand this experience to more communities and critically explore the proposed methodology through co-creation with three federations (CEPKA, FEPIKECHA, and FEPIKBHSAM) and the training of Kichwa facilitators. This will strengthen the transmission of knowledge and the exercise of cartographic autonomy of the Kichwa people.