©IUCN/ Sergio Garrido

Integration of Amazon Protected Area (IAPA) Project

Context

The Amazon is home to the largest expanse of tropical rain forest remaining on Earth. The Amazon is inhabited by 33 million people, and about 420 indigenous communities rely directly on it for their food and water requirements, as well as their livelihoods.

The use of land for agricultural activities, mining, infrastructure, hydroelectric dams, and deforestation for agroindustry is now responsible for the loss of 17 percent of the Amazon rainforests. An additional 21 to 27 percent of the forest is expected to be lost by the year 2030.

The Amazon biome and its protected areas are increasingly important for their biological and cultural diversity. They help preserve natural goods and services, as well as mitigating the environmental and anthropogenic effects and pressures these communities are facing due to global climate change.

Project Goals

The Integration of the Amazon Protected Areas Project (IAPA) supports the community of Latin American Network for Technical Cooperation in National Parks, other Protected Areas, Wild Flora and Fauna (REDPARQUES) and ensures the effective and collaborative oversight of these areas.

FAO, with the financial support of the European Union and in partnership with WWF, UN Environment, IUCN and REDPARQUES, began the IAPA project in its current form in 2014, using the 2010 -2020 Program of Work of Protected Areas (PoWPA) of the Amazon Biome as a model.

Its aim is to increase the resilience of the region to climate change, while maintaining the supply of environmental goods and services, which benefit biodiversity, local communities and their economies.

The project, finishing in 2019, is currently being implemented in eight countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, Suriname, Venezuela and the French-Guianese territory (French Guiana). Its objective is to strengthen the “Vision for the conservation of the biological and cultural diversity of the Amazon biome based on ecosystems” (‘The Vision’), proposed in 2008 by the REDPARQUES.

Project outputs and outcomes

International processes

The implementation of the project enhanced the visibility of REDPARQUES in the international arena, including through the decisions adopted by the Conference of the Parties (COP) of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): CBD/COP/DEC/XIII/2 and CBD/COP/DEC/14/8, which recognize the relevance of regional technical cooperation networks, such as REDPARQUES.

The project also contributed to REDPARQUES Declarations to COP21 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), for the integration of protected areas as mitigation and adaptation strategies for climate change; and to COP13 of the CBD, on the contribution of protected areas to sustainable development and human well-being.The results of the project also were used to prepare the progress report of Aichi Target 11 for the REDPARQUES countries.

The Amazon Biome

• Capacity building through CBD training of over 90 officials of the National Protected Areas Systems and other stakeholders; and 4 thematic groups consolidated as spaces for exchange of experiences and training.
• Vulnerability and climate risk analysis of the Amazon biome conducted and atlas of conservation opportunities in relation to climate change challenges designed.
• Management effectiveness of protected areas protocol developed and applied in 62 Amazon protected areas.
• Amazon vision project portfolio published. This publication presents 6 thematic priorities that respond to The Amazon Vision Strategic Plan and also represents key pathways for achieving REDPARQUES goals.
• Over 40 good practices in the Amazonian protected areas identified from seven countries (in Spanish).

Landscape level

Two landscapes for conservation, a Northern Landscape (Programa Trinacional de Conservación) and a Southern Landscape (Tri-border area of Bolivia, Brazil and Peru), were identified and action plans implemented. The results included:

• Face-to-face capacity development programmes carried out in both landscapes. Over 100 Protected Areas officials, representatives of communities and local governments (of which 30 percent were women), strengthened their capacities in governance and conflict resolution.
• Two cross-sectoral dialogues on strengthening the work on protected areas and sustainable production systems conducted.
• Preparation of two proposals (Peru and Colombia), articulating protected areas in land-use planning processes at the landscape scale.
• Value chain analysis for sustainable tourism as a mechanism for the financial sustainability of protected areas in Northern landscape and Southern Landscape.
• Signing of three shared management agreements, between protected areas and local communities, for hydro-biological resources (RVSA Manuripi, PN Alto Purús and RC Purús and RPF Cuyabeno).