Quarterly progress meeting with Abancay Guardians

On October 6th, the first quarterly progress meeting was held with Regenera’s Guardians and technical allies in the Abancay Landscape, Peru. Representatives of the five communities that are part of the Landscape gave an account of the main actions, challenges, and threats they face in the conservation of their forests and how they are organizing themselves to ensure the sustainability of their life plans.

Forming a network of Guardians united and in permanent communication is one of the main tasks that Regenera sets itself daily. Chats, reports, field visits, interviews, and regular coordination with technical partners that work with the communities are activities that exist in the DNA of the initiative and are what allow traceability of operations and the contributions that companies and individuals make as part of the compensation of their environmental footprints.

With this objective in mind, the Abancay Landscape has inaugurated a practice that in the medium term will be implemented in other Regenera landscapes. These are quarterly progress meetings, in which Guardians, Partners, and Regenera’s technical staff can learn first-hand about key actions being carried out in each community that forms part of the network.

The first quarterly progress meeting was held virtually, with the participation of representatives from the five communities of the Abancay Landscape: Ccolpa, Kiuñalla, Karqueque, Occopata-Ccoya and Micalea Bastidas. Also present were executives from CEDES Apurímac, a technical Partner in the Landscape, and Caritas, another Partner institution that works on regional sustainable development issues.

The meeting participants

Welcoming remarks were given by Frank Hajek, coordinator of the Regenera initiative, and Augusto Ramirez, executive director of CEDES Apurimac. The Regenera team next reported on results of the field work carried out in August and the participation in an event organized by SERFOR in October in the city of Iquitos.

Input from the communities began with Professor Gilberto Arana, president of the community of Ccolpa, who gave an account of the latest communal agreements regarding the conservation of their territory, such as the prohibition of the entry of animals, and of the burning of pastures and forests within the community, especially in the Natural Heritage Reserves (REPANAS). Arana indicated that “through the incentives we receive from Regenera, we can continue protecting and restoring the forest and recovering deforested areas. That is our objective.”

Forests of the Ccolpa community

In turn, Fidel Limachi, from the Occopata-Ccoya community, reported with satisfaction that so far there have been no forest fires in the communal lands, thanks to the agreements reached and the prevention work carried out by the villagers. He then discussed the next agreement to be taken to approve the communal life plan and the infrastructure works to be developed in the medium term in the community.

Anahiz Zambrano Cconaya, representing the community of Kiuñalla, thanked Regenera for its support and reported that, despite persistent drought and heat, the community had enough water to start planting, since the ccochas (reservoirs) and the good maintenance of their forests have allowed them to store water for their agricultural work. This is a direct result of their commitment to conservation.

For their part, the members of the Karqueque community, despite connectivity problems, reported that they are complying with reporting on expenses made with the income generated by Regenera, in assemblies held every two months, as well as their work in forest fire prevention.

Finally, Lino Juro, president of the community of Atumpata, formally requested inclusion of its land within Regenera. It should be noted that the Rontoccocha lagoon, Abancay’s main water source, is located in the territory of this community, which has recently created a Water Route with the participation of young students as tour guides. After listening to his speech and comments, it was decided to begin the process of incorporating the community, which will become the sixth member of the Abancay Landscape.

Finally, it was agreed to hold a meeting in person in January 2024 to evaluate progress and propose new goals for the following year. A successful meeting, which exceeded its objectives and leaves the Regenera team feeling confident and excited by the work of the Guardians. The seed is germinating!