For Erick Alfredo Valerio Benavides, a 43-year-old Indigenous leader from the Iskonawa People in the Peruvian Amazon, the battle to protect the rainforest is deeply personal. His journey began with the preservation of his language, Iskonawa, which was at risk of fading as roads and deforestation encroached upon his ancestral land.
Growing up along the Ucayali River, Valerio Benavides witnessed the erosion of his culture as younger generations left the villages, and logging and land development rapidly expanded. “When a language dies, we don’t just lose words,” he reflects. “We lose knowledge, stories, and our connection to the forest.”
This scenario is common throughout the Amazon, where rapid deforestation, largely driven by wood extraction, mining, road construction, and agricultural expansion, threatens not only biodiversity but also the cultural integrity of Indigenous communities. In Peru, the second-largest portion of the Amazon rainforest after Brazil, deforestation is intensifying, often within Indigenous territories, where poverty can force communities to engage in activities that exacerbate environmental degradation.
Despite these challenges, there is hope. Grassroots initiatives, like the financing model through REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation), are offering new pathways for Indigenous communities to lead forest conservation efforts while benefiting financially. The UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the Peruvian Ministry of Environment, is working to scale up such financing, ensuring that communities like the Iskonawa have the resources to protect their lands. REDD+ incentivizes both local and national efforts to reduce deforestation and enhance forest resilience.
Gabriel Labbate, Head of the Climate Mitigation Unit at UNEP, explains, “Increasing finance for forests isn’t about paying communities to do nothing. It’s about supporting them in the challenging but vital task of protecting the forest.”
In Peru, many Indigenous communities are now directly accessing this support through Indigenous-led initiatives like REDD+ Indígena Amazónica (RIA), which empowers communities to become active partners in forest management. Fermín Chimatani Tayori, President of the National Association of the Native Communities of the Peruvian Amazon, sees this as an opportunity for communities to implement climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience actions while honoring their ancestral knowledge.
Valerio Benavides and his community are part of a collective effort to protect over 400,000 hectares of rainforest in the Amarakaeri Communal Reserve, alongside 10 other Indigenous groups. Through practices like agroforestry, where native trees are integrated into farmland, and the cultivation of cacao trees in deforestation-free zones, these communities are not only restoring degraded lands but also mitigating climate change. Their efforts prevent around 2 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually—equivalent to removing 40,000 cars from the road.
For Valerio Benavides, this work goes beyond environmental protection. It strengthens his community’s culture and identity. “When we have control over our own resources, we don’t just protect the forest. We strengthen our culture, our identity, and our future,” he says.
As the world grapples with the accelerating threats to the Amazon, Valerio Benavides envisions a future where his language is passed down alongside the lessons of conservation, climate change, and Indigenous rights.
However, broader action is needed. UNEP’s Labbate stresses that nations must step up with concrete climate commitments under the Paris Agreement. A recent UN-REDD report reveals that the 20 tropical countries with the highest rates of deforestation lack sufficient climate pledges in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). As the next round of NDCs is due this year, countries have a critical opportunity to strengthen their commitments to halting deforestation by 2030.
The upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) in Belém, Brazil, in November 2025, is seen as a pivotal moment. World leaders must commit to stronger forest protection, simplify requirements for financing, and ensure that Indigenous communities receive the support they need to protect the Amazon. “Now is the time to simplify requirements for a complex issue so that ambition, finance, and action for forests can be scaled up,” Labbate urges.
In this moment of urgency, the world must recognize the invaluable role of Indigenous communities in safeguarding the Amazon and strengthen their capacity to continue their essential work.
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