Impact Partnership: PTMJ Helps to Conserve 950,000 Hectares in the Amazon

January, 2024 – The Médio Juruá Territory Program (PTMJ) contributed to improving people's quality of life, conserving biodiversity, and promoting social cohesion, in Amazonas state by strengthening territorial governance, establishing partnerships and promoting exchanges with local riverine and Indigenous organizations. 

PTMJ Phase two activities ran from July 2022 to June 2023 – the program provided socioeconomic benefits to over 3,600 people and contributed to the creation of 750 jobs in a number of production chains, including pirarucu (one of the largest freshwater fish in the world) and oilseeds (andiroba, murumuru, and ucuuba). In total, 950,000 hectares of forest areas were preserved.

These results are described in the Impact Report – Year Two, available here (in Portuguese). 

“At a time when so much is being said about the important role played by forest people in maintaining biodiversity and climate regulation at the global level, the work of community-based institutions in the Médio Juruá is a great example of social organization for Amazonian territories. These associations and cooperatives bring together riverine and Indigenous peoples, revealing a new social dynamic and innovative nature-based income generation models, with respect for their cultures and true local leadership,” says Ronnayana Silva, Coordinator of Territorial Programs at SITAWI Finance for Good.

The PTMJ is coordinated by SITAWI and benefits from a strategic partnership with USAID, the Partnership Platform for the Amazon (PPA), and Natura. It is supported by the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT, and its local implementing partners include local associations such as ASMAMJ, AMECSARA, AMARU, CODAEMJ, ASPROC, and ASPODEX.

The program supported actions in favor of female entrepreneurship projects, territorial surveillance, and the political training of young leaders, in addition to strengthening of territorial governance through the Médio Juruá Territory Fórum (FTMJ). Cooperation and integration among organizations and institutions that operate locally have been strengthened through the forum.

“The FTMJ Executive Secretariat (ES) is very important. Since the moment we started hiring paid members for the ES, it has developed an ever more significant role, devoting all of its efforts to fostering relations with all institutions, and in particular with Indigenous peoples. It also created a better work dynamic, with more action and transparency. The forum plays a strategic role for conservation units, Indigenous lands, and other communities in the Médio Juruá,” says Gilberto Olavo, manager of the Uacari Sustainable Development Reserve and a member of the FTMJ Management Committee.

PTMJ covers two conservation units – the Médio Juruá Extractive Reserve and the Uacari Sustainable Development Reserve – as well as part of the Deni Indigenous Territory, near the Xeruã River. It also encompasses the municipalities of Carauari and Itamarati, in the state of Amazonas, directly reaching around 3,500 inhabitants from more than 50 riverine communities and five Indigenous villages.

Find out more about the project on the PPA and Sitawi Finanças do Bem website