The Regional Government of the Peruvian Amazon has just recently signed off on the Maijuna Regional Conservation Area.  The Maijuna, with RCF’s help, have been fighting for this for the past 6 years and this is an incredible accomplishment.  The area protects 390,000 hectares (almost 1,000,000 acres!) of Maijuna ancestral lands.  RCF was in Maijuna lands for the declaration ceremony and it was an incredibly empowering moment for the Maijuna and very important for their future generations.

This important event was documented with many news stories, including a story in the longest running newspaper in Peru, El Comercio, and the article can be found at the following link:

http://elcomercio.pe/peru/1373369/noticia-loreto-lucha-maijunas-recuperar-su-estirpe

For those of you who do not speak Spanish, a translation of the El Comercio story is provided below:

Loreto: The Maijuna struggle to reclaim their heritage

Indigenous group succeeds in having its ancestral territory declared a conservation area. The last 500 Maijuna, and their lands, will be protected from degradation.

The last Maijuna to wear discs in his earlobes died in 1982, and with him went an entire tradition. The ornament was a symbol of dignity, but to be a Maijuna at that time was no honor.

Since 1682, when their ancestors were contacted by the Jesuits, the Maijuna suffered the forced labor of the missions, the slavery of the rubber boom, the impositions of the educational system and the intolerance of society. To survive, the Maijuna decided that they needed to westernize.

So they stopped wearing their traditional clothes, exchanged their blowguns for rifles and stopped building their traditional longhouses. They also forgot their language and let die their most distinctive practice – putting discs in their earlobes.

But sometime during the last decade, when several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and the government began to place greater value on ancient cultures, the Maijuna realized the depth of their fortune. “We discovered that we were rich in our culture, and in our nature,” said Romero Rios Ushiñahua, president of the Federation of Native Maijuna Communities.

Degraded Territories

Today there are only 487 Maijuna spread through four communities in the lower Napo River region. The oldest of their new towns was established in 1968. At that time, they lived unprotected at the mercy of loggers, hunters and fishermen.

Mauro Mera, a 48 year-old Maijuna individual, remembers what life was like then. “The loggers took our cedars, the hunters took our tapirs, and the fishermen our peacock bass.”

Degradation wiped out resources, and without resources a population migrates and disintegrates, and culture is diluted.

New Refuge

In 2006, as a federated indigenous group and with the assistance of ethnobotanist [and RCF Board Member] Michael Gilmore, the Maijuna began the legal process to declare their ancestral territory a conservation area.

“Only in this way could they build the strength necessary to take control of their natural resources, and to restore their biodiversity and culture,” said Jose Alvarez, a biologist at the Research Institute of the Peruvian Amazon (IIAP).

Now, after six years of efforts, on Saturday February 4th, the Maijuna ensured that regional government officials recognized 390,000 hectares of Loreto forest as the Maijuna Regional Conservation Area. Thanks also to the support of PROCREL of the Regional Government of Loreto, the NGO Nature and Culture International, and IIAP.

The opportunity that the Maijuna now have is one that provides protection. They are no longer helpless at the mercy of exploiters. They live in a protected area.

“Will we live better?” asks Hermelinda Mosoline, a 38 year-old mother of 12 children, while sitting in a tree. She wants to protect her heritage. The Maijuna, better late than never, now have an opportunity to protect their heritage.

RCF helps create a huge new rainforest reserve in the Peruvian Amazon!

Located between the Napo and Putumayo rivers, the 391,000 hectare Área de Conservación Regional Maijuna was established on February 4, 2012.

RCF Board member Dr. Michael Gilmore and RCF extensionists Gerardo Bertiz and Exiles Guerra attended the dedication ceremony and celebration in the Maijuna village of Sucusari. Almost 1,000,000 acres in size, the creation of the new reserve effectively cancels a project to build a road through Maijuna ancestral lands and gives protection to the last remaining 500 Maijuna individuals. To put things in perspective, this new protected area is 22% larger than Yosemite National Park – it is an immense area that is extremely biologically rich and culturally important. RCF has worked tirelessly with the Maijuna and their native federation FECONAMAI to help them organize and get this reserve approved by the Peruvian government.

In addition, since 2009, RCF has funded a beekeeping and honey production project under the guidance of German Perilla in Maijuna lands. The success of this project was vital to the creation of the reserve, because the Peruvian government requires that the Maijuna engage in “productive conservation” activities that can generate income in a sustainable way before they will approve the establishment of a new reserve. The honey production project will help save the rainforest by transforming it into a renewable economic resource for local people.

Now the hardest work begins for the Maijuna – protecting and managing their reserve and its natural resources. Thanks to a generous grant from the Threshold Foundation in late 2011, we can continue to support the Maijuna in this struggle.

Stay tuned for updates on RCF’s new programs with the Maijuna this year!

RCF board member Michael Gilmore with Maijuna leader Sebastián Ríos Ochoa at the reserve declaration ceremony. Photo by Ken Bohn.

Aerial photo of the new Maijuna protected area showing its incredibly intact nature. Photo by Alvaro del Campo.

A black water lake in the new Maijuna protected area. The new Maijuna protected area is incredibly biologically rich and culturally important. Photo by Michael Gilmore.

Click image to view full size...

From the George Mason University News:

When he goes to visit the Maijuna people in the Peruvian Amazon, Mason student German Perilla is welcomed by the name they gave him — “ua” — which means, simply, “bee.”

An appropriate name, given that last year Perilla brought more than 600,000 honeybees to their small community as part of a beekeeping program through his studies at Mason. Perilla is pursuing a master’s degree in interdisciplinary studies, with a focus in environmental science and community engagement.

More…