OTCA and Indigenous Organizations Sign a Letter of Intent to Strengthen the Protection of the Amazon Borderlands

With the goal of expanding dialogue and strengthening the defense of border territories in Alto Juruá (Acre/Brazil), Yurúa, and Alto Tamaya (Ucayali/Peru) in the face of pressures that affect the rights and ways of life of Indigenous peoples, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA) signed, on November 16, a Letter of Intent with Indigenous organizations from both countries during COP30, in Belém.

The initiative paves the way for scientific and technical cooperation aimed at generating knowledge about this region of the Amazon, fostering dialogue between ancestral knowledge and academic methodologies in the environmental, social, and governance fields. The agreement includes the exchange of information, the organization of events, and the design of projects that consolidate territorial protection and Indigenous leadership.

Although it does not entail binding financial obligations, the Letter establishes timelines and focal points for the preparation of a joint work plan — a decisive institutional step to transform political commitments into coordinated actions for territorial management.

The Indigenous organizations that signed the agreement — ACONADIYSH (Asociación de Comunidades Nativas para el Desarrollo Integral de Yurúa Yono Sharakoiai), APIWTXA (Associação Ashaninka do Rio Amônia), OPIRJ (Organização dos Povos Indígenas do Rio Juruá), and ORAU (Organización Regional AIDESEP Ucayali) — form part of the Juruá–Yurúa–Alto Tamaya Transboundary Commission.

Organized as a network of Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities and organizations working in defense of biocultural diversity along the border between Acre (Brazil) and Ucayali (Peru), the Transboundary Commission has been operating formally since 2021 through data production, training processes, mobilization, and political advocacy.

Jamer López, president of ORAU, dedicated the agreement to the memory of the martyrs of Saweto — among them Edwin Chota — reinforcing the commitment to present sustainable alternatives to organized crime in territorial management and to strengthen mechanisms for protecting the lives of defenders who remain under threat in this region.