This time we were lucky to be able to work with representatives from a north American organization-YRITWC, which was founded in Alaska, at the basin of the Yukon River. This organization contacted us through the ACEER Foundation (Amazon Centre for Environmental Education Research). They were looking for logistic support in order to organize a scouting trip to the Peruvian Amazon.
The YRITWC Organization works with around 70 native communities along the Yukon River. These communities work together towards the same goal, which is to take care, protect and manage the water resource, its basins and the environment. At the present time, these communities have already been trained and have been working on taking samples from their rivers as well as cleaning them. The locals know their resource and are learning how to manage it. There has been an integration of traditional knowledge from the native towns with current scientific knowledge in order to obtain a comprehensive evaluation of the system and the entire basin. On this opportunity, Ecologística Peru recommended a visit to the Machiguenga community at the Low Urubamba as a potential location to replicate this project.
This first approach basically consisted on coordinating meetings with some communities in the area in order to learn and listen to their stories and experiences. It was a journey for learning and cultural exchange so that a mutual relationship may be built in the future. The communities have showed enthusiasm and interest, therefore, we expect this approach to become a reality and that this first trip won´t be the last one. We expect it to be the beginning of a project that will bring benefits to the communities that live along the basin. Once again we thank our friends the Machiguengas for their constant support and interest placed on us and CEDIA (Centre for the Development of the Amazonian Indigenous) for their unconditional support.
