AMPB. Gunayala, Panamá.

¿What is the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests?

The AMPB is a space for coordination and exchange of territorial authorities that administer or influence the main forest masses of Mesoamerica. Indigenous governments and community forestry organizations that in the Alliance seek to strengthen their own dialogue, focused on community management of their natural resources, jointly seeking to influence governments and international cooperation so that biodiversity conservation strategies and for the climate balance, appropriately integrate the rights and benefits of Indigenous Peoples and Forest Communities.

The AMPB works on two clear advocacy routes: the Community Forest Management agenda and the Territorial Rights agenda. Both are based on the global Climate Change agenda.

If Not Us Then Who. Community fire brigade – Moskitia, Honduras.

Why do we exist?

In Mesoamerica, indigenous peoples and forest communities, we have a historical influence over 50 million hectares of forests. In the last 20 years, many strategies have passed through our territories, first, the protected areas declared by the States, then the projects to connect them called Biological Corridors; however, the social and economic conditions of our peoples and communities did not change.

With traditional norms and cultural uses, and with community forestry; indigenous peoples and forest communities, we have managed over time to give true content to protected areas, in a geographical setting where the pressure of the advance of the agricultural frontier encouraged by livestock and excessive timber extraction, among other drivers of deforestation, continues to be faced. and including the threat of megaprojects, mining, hydroelectric and oil, among others, that put at risk the livelihoods of our Indigenous Peoples and Forest Communities.

Convinced that the only way of survival for our Indigenous Peoples and Forest Communities in the face of massive deforestation threats, the impact generated by climate change and the threats of megaprojects is through the union between the peoples, the Mesoamerican Alliance of Pueblos y Bosques (AMPB) in the context of COP16, in order to make visible the successful management of communities in the management of their natural resources to influence governments and instances that daily make decisions on issues that directly affect communities .

Our objectives

Defend the full and effective recognition and respect of the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Promote initiatives and strategies that benefit and strengthen management capacities for the governance of indigenous peoples and local communities.

Manage and facilitate the participation of territorial organizations and governments through indigenous and peasant authorities in local, national, regional and international settings so that they influence through the approaches generated in the territories.

Analyze, evaluate and jointly influence different political, economic, environmental, socio-cultural initiatives and laws that affect the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities that are members of the Alliance.