Guardians of the Forest: Shipibo-Konibo Communities Take the Lead in Conservation

Monitoring Committee in Nuevo Ahuaypa (c) Envol Vert

In the towns of Nuevo Ahuaypa and Dos de Mayo (Ucayali), representatives and members of the Shipibo-Konibo indigenous community met with officials from the National Service of State-Protected Areas (SERNANP), the Contract Administrator for the El Sira Communal Reserve (ECOSIRA), and the local Envol Vert team to recognize and establish community monitoring committees for this protected natural area.

According to SERNANP (2017), these committees are “a group of people who support the management of a Protected Natural Area (PNA) and take actions to care for their territory (or area of interest), as well as its natural resources and the interests of the communities. Likewise, this committee collaborates with SERNANP’s official park rangers.” In this way, accredited monitoring committees carry out various monitoring activities (flora and fauna, forest cover, forest fires) and have the power to report to the authorities if they witness any intrusion into conservation areas.

Presentation of the official certificate of recognition
for the community monitoring committee (c) Envol Vert

This initiative addresses one of the main objectives of the ConBosque project: to contribute to community-based forest conservation and the restoration of degraded ecosystems. Indeed, the integrity of certain parts of the forest is affected by activities such as agriculture, livestock farming, or logging, the expansion of which increases the risk of deforestation. In light of this situation, citizen participation is essential to complement the monitoring work carried out by forest rangers.

For these committees to be fully operational, they must have both adequate equipment (communication tools, audiovisual resources, transportation, and basic infrastructure) and appropriate training in monitoring and mapping so that they can carry out their tasks as effectively as possible.

In Dos de Mayo, a formal ceremony was held to recognize and equip the Native Community Surveillance Committee, with the participation of local authorities and representatives from the institutions in attendance. During the event, the committee—chaired by Mr. Eli Sinti Ruiz—was officially recognized, and equipment and supplies were distributed to strengthen community surveillance and monitoring efforts.

In Nueva Ahuaypa, in addition to the formal recognition and equipping of the surveillance committee, SERNANP staff and the Envol Vert team conducted the workshop “Use of GPS and Monitoring and Patrol Tools,” which provided theoretical and practical knowledge on GPS operation, field navigation, and the use of basic tools to strengthen community surveillance and territorial monitoring efforts.

These initial steps in Dos de Mayo and Nueva Ahuaypa mark concrete progress in building a surveillance model that places the communities themselves at the center of conservation. By combining the formal recognition of the committees, the provision of equipment, and technical training, the ConBosque project lays the groundwork for more robust, participatory, and sustainable forest stewardship.

As part of the next steps to be taken under the SERNANP-Envol Vert agreement, which aims to strengthen the training and organization of community rangers, efforts will be made to deploy members of the Dos de Mayo Indigenous Community’s surveillance committee and to conduct workshops on community surveillance, focusing on topics such as the use of GPS devices, drones, camera traps, and collaborative tools.