‘This Is What’s Working’: Indigenous Leaders on Environment Solutions in Their Communities

‘This Is What’s Working’: Indigenous Leaders on Environment Solutions in Their Communities

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Eriberto throws his head back with a laugh and shakes it as he tills his plot of land in the Peruvian Amazon, near the Cordillera Azul National Park in central Peru.

“That does not work here,” he says with a chuckle, responding to a question about why he doesn’t call his diverse forest garden “agroforestry”.

In the past, government officials promoted planting coffee or cacao in agroforestry systems near his community. But Eriberto Guerra and other Indigenous farmers in the town of Lamas say it hasn’t been effective enough and some have rejected the sustainable farming label.

“They promoted growing just one or two other food crops with some trees,” Guerra tells Mongabay. “But you need to plant dozens of species along with traditional plants. When one crop fails or doesn’t perform well in the local market, you need to have others to make up for it.

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