From June 30 to July 3 of this year, specialists from the Center for the Development of the Amazonian Indigenous (CEDIA) visited 6 communities belonging to the 5 Unidos Association: Encanto De Suny, Isla Baños, Nuevo Canchahuaya, Monte de Los Olivos, Canelos and Alto Perillo; The Alfonso Ugarte farmhouse, which is in the process of recognizing its territory, was also visited. They are located in the Ucayali river basin in the area adjacent to the Aguas Calientes Maquía Regional Conservation Area (ACR), in the department of Loreto.
This is part of the project "Incorporation of 2.4 million hectares of Tropical Forests in the south east of Loreto - Peru, to participatory conservation", which is financed by the RainforestTrust organization. The activities consisted of starting the Community Strengthening Module that seeks to make known to the peasant and native communities the functions of their representatives, who and how community decisions are made, how they can be elected, among others.
An example of why community organizational strengthening is important is the case of the Isla Baños peasant community. On July 11, it received its property title, after 10 years of having started the process to obtain its communal property, in the zone of free availability of the State, that is, it does not overlap any pre-existing right . This required that they be explained why community management instruments such as the minute book are important and what the functions of managers are. Before the community was titled the lieutenant governor, he was the highest authority; However, with the support of CEDIA and with the recent qualification, they are organizing themselves better, since before they did it through hamlets and they did not have a board of directors that today already exists.
From CEDIA we hope that each of the trained communities will organize themselves better and better so that they can make decisions for the common good and not for some individuals and are capable of directing their communities. Community strengthening will also contribute to their participation in the co-management of the ACR Aguas Calientes Maquía together with the Regional Environmental Authority of Loreto, when the ACR is finally established.