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During negotiations with the World Bank in March, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP) made important strides towards launching Peru’s Dedicated Grant Mechanism, which will provide $5.5 million for indigenous land titling and community forest management in the Peruvian Amazon.
Last year, the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP) moved forward decisively with their engagement in the Dedicated Grant Mechanism for Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (DGM) by establishing a National Steering Council comprised of representatives of both AIDESEP and CONAP (Confederación de Nacionalidades Amazónicas del Perú), submitting written terms of reference to the Bank, and proposing a national program for the DGM. In December, 2013, the FIP sub-committee approved the concept note for the DGM, which will provide $5.5 million for a national program, promoted by AIDESEP, focused on indigenous land titling, community forest management, and governance strengthening in all regions outside the FIP project areas. In addition to the $14 million committed to these activities within Peru’s FIP Investment Plan, the $5.5 million from the DGM will mark the halfway point towards achieving the $40 million required to complete indigenous land titling in the Peruvian Amazon.
As a next step in designing the DGM program, AIDESEP attended a series of meetings with the World Bank in Lima on March 16-20. A representative from BIC accompanied this World Bank mission as an invited advisor for AIDESEP. Over the course of these meetings, AIDESEP began negotiating the DGM project document with the Bank and agreed to an ambitious process to design, approve and sign a grant agreement by the end of the year. The DGM is planned to be launched during COP 20 in Lima in December.
As the first DGM program operationalized, the establishment of the DGM for Peru is extremely important on an international scale. The project is also notable as an initiative firmly rooted in national indigenous priorities and with strong indigenous ownership. In addition to the promise of future financial resources for land titling, the DGM has already had the unintended consequence of fostering collaboration between AIDESEP and CONAP, which consolidates a more effective platform for negotiation with the government.
Although the DGM in Peru marks innovative engagement for the World Bank and successful advocacy on the part of AIDESEP, significant challenges remain. The World Bank’s procedures are clearly not designed to channel money to grassroots organizations or facilitate participatory projects, and Bank safeguard specialists are over-extended and over-burdened. However, the World Bank team working on the DGM in Peru appears committed to working with AIDESEP and CONAP to facilitate a participatory and flexible process. An additional challenge of the DGM will be the substantial financial and institutional strain that the project will place on AIDESEP, despite the organization’s strong technical capacity.
Discussions around the DGM are part of AIDESEP’s broader efforts to secure ownership and community management of indigenous territories in the Peruvian Amazon. By launching the DGM at the COP, AIDESEP hopes to receive commitments for additional funds to complete the titling process in the next few years. If the DGM, the FIP, and AIDESEP’s broad efforts are successful, they may succeed in transforming the current open access situation in the Peruvian Amazon to a scenario in which indigenous territories are securely managed by local communities. The stakes are high, given that Peru’s business as usual scenario will allow international oil, gas, hydropower, forestry, biofuels, and mining interests to deforest the Peruvian Amazon in the coming decade, causing widespread displacement and undermining the cultural survival of Peru’s Amazonian indigenous people.
Comments from FIP Sub-Committee