From August 10-13th, tens of thousands of attendees descended upon the Amazonian cities of Moyobamba and Tarapoto in San Martin, Peru for ExpoAmazonica 2017. The event, which featured over 400 exhibitors, was organized by the Government of San Martin and regional Governor Víctor Manuel Noriega Reátegui. Throughout the three days of events several GCF delegates, partners, and the GCF Peru Country Coordinator participated in panels on sustainable development and responsible investment in the Amazon. Also present was GCF governor Manuel Gambini Rupay of Ucayali, who will play host to the event in 2018.
The ExpoAmazonica provided an opportunity for the regional government to highlight initiatives it is taking to promote low carbon rural development through a ‘produce-protect’ approach. This included a forum on public private alliances to promote deforestation free agriculture, a roundtable on sustainable low emission cacao production, and a day dedicated to discussing sustainable investments in low emission development. The forum provided an opportunity to highlight advances that have been achieved in GCF member states in Brazil and Indonesia, and share those lessons learned within the Peruvian context.
During the Expo, a group of 44 institutions including government institutions, civil society organizations, and private companies joined to launch the San Martín Declaration, which establishes a public – private coalition for “Low Rural Development in Emissions to Achieve Sustainable Jurisdictions in the Peruvian Amazon.”
The declaration aims to establish a medium- and long-term Amazon Agenda focused on: (i) guaranteeing rights to land and forests to native communities and agricultural and forestry smallholders producers; Ii) optimize the sustainable use of the forest landscapes of the Amazon; Iii) build the set of enabling conditions and generate the necessary changes for low emission rural development (LED-R).
The partnership established by the declaration will seek to phase out deforestation caused by agricultural expansion the Peruvian Amazon, develop financial architecture to advance production-protection approaches for smallholders ensuring the supply of sustainable products to markets, and increase productivity to allow for land use to be optimized across the Amazon. These measures will start the path to build sustainable jurisdictions, especially in the tropical value chains of the Amazon through the Production-Protection approach.
The Regional Government of San Martín, who presides over the Amazon Interregional Council and was the organizer of the ExpoAmazónica 2017, convened the initiative. The Country Coordination of Governor’s Climate and Forests Task Force in Peru (Mecanismos de Desarrollo Alternos – MDA) and Earth Innovation Institute also supported the launch of the coalition.