On January 12 of this year, the legal status of the Administration Contract Executor (ECA) SIEKOPAI was registered, a sequoia term that means “various colors”. ECA SIEKOPAI will co-manage the Airo Pai Communal Reserve (RC) together with the Headquarters of this Protected Natural Area (ANP). This ANP was created on October 25, 2012 and is located in the department of Loreto, Maynas province, Torres Causana district, in the area of influence of the upper Napo river and tributaries such as the headwaters of the Tambor and Campuya rivers.
ECA SIEKOPAI represents four native communities and an association of fishermen settled in the buffer zone of RC AIRO Pai. Three native communities belong to the Secoya indigenous people: San Martín de Porras, Mashunta and Zambelin de Yaricaya; one, called San Juan de Miraflores, belongs to the Kichwa indigenous people. The existence of the ECA SIEKOPAI is also due to the great support received from the Secoya Indigenous Organization of Peru (OISPE) and the Kichwa Wangurina Inti Runa Organization (ORKIWAN).
Within the framework of the agreement signed between CEDIA and the National Service of Natural Areas Protected by the State (SERNANP), the former accompanied the process of creating the RC Airo Pai; and, the latter, contacted CEDIA to provide technical and financial support for the constitution of ECA SIEKOPAI.
Alberto Romero, Institutional President of CEDIA, indicated that the constitution of ECA SIEKOPAI is important because it will allow the participation of the surrounding population in the management of this CR. In this way, the communities will co-manage this ANP, together with SERNANP, ensuring the conservation of natural resources located within the area, promoting the sustainable use of natural resources for the benefit of neighboring populations, signing contracts to obtain financing to promote projects, among other functions that are contemplated in the Contract that the ECA will sign with the State.
In this sense, the ECA SIEKOPAI will be a good ally for the Headquarters of the RC Airo Pai, since the communities will be able to support, for example, in monitoring and surveillance issues and a large part of the strategies designed in its Master Plan, whose preparation will be the next joint step between CEDIA and SERNANP during 2017; considering that any decision to be made on the ANP must be approved by the Headquarters.
CEDIA appreciates the trust that SERNANP and the Area Headquarters have placed in it to collaborate with the constitution of ECA SIEKOPAI. The process of establishing the ECA for the Huimeki Communal Reserve, also located in Loreto, and other joint actions are still pending. We are backed by our previous experience in participatory conservation for many years; A recent example is the contribution made to achieve the categorization of the Sierra del Divisor National Park, located between Ucayali and Loreto, in 2015 and the preparation of its Master Plan.