REDD+ Webinar: Indigenous Peoples and Community Conservation: Experiences from the Ecuadorian Amazon

More than 350 indigenous groups inhabit the Amazon, and around 30% of Amazon lands are within their territories. In Ecuador, where 46% of the country’s land is part of the Amazon biome, community conservation plays a key role and is strongly connected to protected areas. 

The families of Zancudo Cocha community own more than 170,000ha of tropical rainforest, most of which are within the  Cuyabeno reserve. This overlapping of indigenous territories and state protected area has produced very interesting collaborations, learnings, and legal challenges. In another case, the Achuar Indigenous Peoples are working to declare their territory as the first community protected area in Ecuador, looking to find a balance between national government and local conservation approaches to strengthen rainforest protection. 

In this Learning Session, Juan Carlos Garcia, Conservation Director of WWF-Ecuador, will compare and contrast these two cases, sharing experiences and lessons learned, and explain the SACRE Declaration (Achuar System of Conservation and Ecological Reserves) and how it represents an important milestone for conservation efforts lead by Indigenous Peoples.