Editor’s note: Despite its protected status, the forest of Peru Alto Mayo protected, a strip of the Amazon jungle twice the size of the city of New York, has seen the highest rates of the deforestation of the field. Since 2012, Conservation International has tried to stop the loss of forests by negotiating “conservation agreements” with local communities, which accept to stop cleaning forests in exchange for technical and financial advice.
To date, almost 1,000 agreements have signed the leg, reducing deforestation and helping the creature a culture of sustainable development.
Here, María Hernández describes her life in Alto Mayo and how she has changed since she and her sister, Maximila, signed a conservation agreement. Read on other conservation agreements here.
Maximila and I moved to Aguas Verdes with our father in 1983. At that time the forest had many animals and was very beautiful. We saw the yellow -tailed lady monkey, the ancestor bear, the rock cock and many parrots. Then, the animals disappeared due to the growing number of migrants in the area.
We used to sell wood, but as we had only some of us in the forest, we only sold a few furniture trunks. Then, apparently overnight, a large number of people from Piura came to El Carmen, Nueva Jordan and El Limón, and began to reduce many more trees while they brought more people to the forest.
We were the first women to subscribe to the conservation agreements. Engineers of the Associated Organization of Conservation International Ecoan, a non -profit organization focused on forest rehabilitation, convinced my sister Maximila immediately saying: “It will not cost him anything. You will have all the technical support to teach you how to work on your farm and how to produce more coffee and vegetables. “However, I was the first to see if we were promised that many other organizations had also been a technique
What I liked most about the conservation agreement was that engineers and technicians would reach my farm, and we would learn about pruning and fertilizers.
We agreed to take care of the entire forest in return. We could not reduce the trees, especially those that along the banks of the river. We also take care of birds and animals in the forest. I think that if we want to live a healthy life, we have to protect our forest, replant trees and create our own sustainable gardens.
We behave at college, but we meet all kinds of people and have learned a lot about agriculture. Us
We realized that we did know how to grow our coffee correctly in this region. We used to do it, using mud practices and burns, but did not produce the best results. Now we have a good coffee seedling and some vegetables that we sell in our own cafeteria that we build with the support of conservation agreements.
Women in the community joined together to create the women’s development committee. The park authorities give us fabrics, ribbons and supplies to learn embroidery techniques. We also meet with other women and talk about how we feel, how we get along with our husbands and other aspects of our personal lives, which creates a great sense of community.
Time will say what the future holds, but at least we have had a good start, which is essential to advance. We will not destroy the forest and continue to educate ourselves on how to protect nature. My husband and children are happy. They tell me: “Mommy, now you know a lot. You’re going to defeat engineers!”
They call my sister Maximila “Engineer”, because she has learned the techniques that engineers taught us, and our children are proud of us. They saw us on television when they come to interview us, because coffee cultivation techniques are the most advanced, and people congratulate us for our success. I feel privileged. Now that prices are improving, we want to advance and strengthen our women’s development committee. With our good will, good ideas and hard work, we will achieve our goals.
María Hernández is one of the first subscribers of conservation agreement in Aguas Verdes, Peru. This publication was translated into English by Daniela Amico, communications manager of Conservation International-Peru.
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