This unprecedented study builds on a growing body of research on the relationship between territorial rights of Indigenous communities and deforestation prevention. Notably, this is the first randomized controlled trial (RCT) on community forest monitoring and governance in indigenous communities. The monitoring program was assigned to Indigenous communities in the Loreto Province of Peru between early 2018 and May 2019. To permit measurement of the impact of the program, researchers collected original survey data, conducted qualitative interviews, and analyzed satellite imagery among 36 treatment and 40 control communities. The researchers mea- sured community participation in forest monitoring, deforestation rates, community governance, and citizen perceptions of resource management. Preliminary results of the impact evaluation associated with this program will be shared on September 24, 2019.
The implementation of the project was led by the Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS), The Indigenous Organization of the Eastern Peruvian Amazon (ORPIO-AIDESEP), and the World Resources Institute (WRI). The technology used by implementing communities, ranging from the border with Ecuador to the border with Colombia used Near Real Time (NRT) satellite deforestation data incorporated into smartphone geotagging applications and drones to collect data over the study period. The data was then collectively analyzed by the community and stored in the first-ever indige- nous run data hub, the Center for Information and Territorial Planning (CIPTO-ORPIO). Implementation and measure- ment will continue for at least one more year.
