In a nutshell
The Río Huayabamba-Abiseo Model Forest is located in the central-southern Amazon Basin of the San Martín region, in Mariscal Cáceres provinc, capital Juanjuí, in the upper and middle basins of the Huayabamba River. It comprises the territories of the Río Abiseo National Park (UNESCO Mixed World Heritage), the Martin Sagrado Conservation Concessions, El Breo, APAHUI-Monte Cristo, and Alto Huayabamba.
The mission of Río Huayabamba-Abiseo Model Forest is to manage the conservation and sustainable production of ecosystem goods and services, through participatory territorial management. Its priorities are:
- Developing and implementing community-based conservation approaches;
- Promoting research and technology generation and transfer;
- Implementing innovative environmental and climate financing mechanisms;
- Consolidating and replicating agroforestry models for cocoa and fruit crops and;
- Valuating ecosystem services and biodiversity.
Landscape
Ninety percent of the Model Forest territory is made up of areas in concession for conservation and the Río Abiseo National Park, a UNESCO Mixed World Heritage. It has an area of approximately 720,081.09 ha of primary forests, with cocoa crops (14,000 ha) and timber (4000 ha) in its buffer zone. The main rivers flowing through the territory are the Abiseo and the Huayabamba; the latter flows into the Huallaga River, the principal hydrological axis of the San Martín region.
A small population of 9672 inhabitants is settled in the Model Forest, with the populated centers of Canaan, La Morada, Triángulo de la Esperanza and Reposo del Buen Pastor located mostly in the Martín Sagrado region. However, within the limits of the Model Forest, there is a large conglomerate of populated centers, of which Santa Rosa, Dos de Mayo, Pucallpillo, San Juan de Pajatén, Marisol, Nuevo Chimbote, Luz del Oriente and San José stand out. These populated centers house conservation and producer associations that manage their respective conservation concessions.
Partnership
The Huayabamba-Abiseo River Model Forest is a broad-based affiliation, with participation of representatives from various sectors.
Public sector: Mayor’s Office, Huicungo district municipality; Regional Government of San Martín-Juanjuí Economic Development Office; Río Abiseo National Park (SERNANP); Mariscal Cáceres provincial municipality.
Private sector: Mariscal Cáceres Province Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Tourism; Cococaros Agrarian Cooperative (ACOPAGRO).
Civil society: Amazonía Viva Foundation; Association of Agricultural Producers of Huicungo (APAHUI); Association of Communal Forests Protection of the Dos de Mayo Community (APROBOC); Amazonian NGOs for the Amazon (AMPA); Concessionaire Network for the Conservation of San Martín.
Academia: National University of San Martín, National Agrarian University of the Tropical Forest (UNAS); Tropical Crops Institute (IST).
International cooperation: GiZ (Germany), Pur Projet (France), Cuso International (Canada).
Sustainability
Strategic goals:
- Generate a change of attitude and the appropriation of Model Forest principles by populations and authorities in the territory.
- Promote and influence territorial planning, under a balanced and integrated occupation of the territory, helping stakeholders generate governance in order to reach an effective and coordinated management.
- Foster alliances in the Latin American region that favor collaboration, networking and the exchange of experiences and lessons learned.
- Support the process of creating the Gran Pajatén Biosphere Reserve.
Key actions in place to reach these goals:
- Implementing the Forest School of San Francisco de Asís del Colegio Nacional Inmaculada.
- Approval of the Protocol for the approval of assignment contracts in use for agroforestry systems.
- Advancing innovative social business models, such as the social enterprise CHOBA CHOBA comprised of Cocoa Producers from Alto Huayabamba who, along with their foreign partners, market a chocolate produced with cocoa from two Biosphere Reserves: Gran Pajatén in Peru and Entlebuch, Switzerland.
- Promoting the brand of “San Martín Region” to market high-quality organic products in national and international markets, that are sustainable and free of illegal activities, from the Huayabamba-Abiseo River Model Forest.
- Contributing to the strategic conservation of the Abiseo River and the Abiseo River National Park, where the waters are considered to be the purest in the San Martín region. A project to collect drinking water from several districts and provinces is being proposed.
- To present the project “Improving governance and land use management to address the causes of forest loss and degradation and increase carbon stocks in Honduras and Peru” to Expertise France.
- Establishing the REDD + Martín Sagrado Biological Corridor Project, through the Amazonía Viva Foundation, which will conserve 303,000 hectares of primary forests with a strategic 80-year vision (2010 – 2089).
- Coordinating with authorities and organizations to sign supporting documents for the Gran Pajatén Biosphere Reserve process.
Key impacts:
- Four hectares dedicated to the Forest School in Juanjuí, serving 2000 students with 95 elementary and secondary level teachers.
- In November 2018, delivered 10 land transfer contracts for agroforestry systems to Marisol communities within the Model Forest.
- Since January 2019, established a strategic partnership between the Model Forests of Honduras (Noroeste of Olancho and Sico Paulaya) and Peru (Model Forest Río Huayabamba/Abiseo) for collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Learn more about Río Huayabamba-Abiseo Model Forest :
Noticia: Perú: el cacao que salvó a un pueblo y a un área protegida del narcotráfico
Noticia: Primer Bosque Escuela en Región San Martín
Noticia UNESCO: Gaggo Leche, el primer chocolate con leche que mezcla materias primas de dos Reservas de Biosfera de la UNESCO: Entlebuch y Gran Pajatén
Noticia: AMPA Ganador de los Premios Latinoamérica Verde 2017
Noticia: Ministerio de Agricultura y Riego premiará a mejores productores agrarios de la región San Martín
Noticia: MINAGRI celebra Día del Campesino premiando a exitosos productores agrícolas de San Martín