Why Carmen Pecha?

Carmen Pecha manages a productive forest.

Carmen Pecha is a Tacana community in the Ixiamas municipality, one of four villages in the central area of the Tacana Indigenous Territory, TCO Tacana 1, in Bolivia’s northern Amazon.

It is an example of a productive standing-forest economy. Much of the local economy in TCO Tacana 1 is connected to forest-based activities that do not require large-scale land-use conversion, including fishing, tourism, hunting, native-honey collection and forest products such as majo and açaí.

Açaí is harvested from naturally occurring and locally managed palms while the surrounding forest stays standing. The standing forest itself has economic value: harvesting and managing forest products creates income while its ecological functions remain intact, so livelihoods stay tied to the health of the forest rather than to its conversion. The forest can be productive without being converted.

Carmen Pecha is organized under CIPTA, the Tacana people’s own governing council. Its families harvest açaí under a forest management plan they built and maintain themselves.

Map of TCO Takana I divided into three management zones, with Carmen Pecha in the central area near Ixiamas, bordering Madidi National Park and the Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve — TCO Takana I is divided into three management zones, with Carmen Pecha located in the central area near Ixiamas. The territory borders Madidi National Park and the Pilón Lajas Biosphere Reserve, forming an important corridor for biodiversity conservation.Source: Miranda, G., Estívariz, A., & Wallace, R. B. (2010). Resultados de la primera cosecha manejada de Caiman yacare en la TCO Takana (Norte de Bolivia).

Two competing uses of land

Map of TCO Tacana 1 in light green, showing Carmen Pecha among four villages in the central area and purple areas of EASBA sugarcane expansion — TCO Tacana 1 is shown in light green. Carmen Pecha is one of four villages in the central area of the territory. Purple areas indicate EASBA sugarcane expansion.Source: Google Earth Pro, EASBA and CIPTA-CIMTA

The same territory can support very different economic uses of land. Alongside the forest-based economy described above, TCO Tacana 1 has also seen the expansion of industrial sugarcane.

During the 2010s, EASBA, Empresa Azucarera San Buenaventura, expanded its sugarcane cultivation from 124 hectares to 4,573 hectares. Much of this expansion occurred without proper consultation with surrounding Tacana communities.

Sugarcane expansion represents an industrial land-use model dependent on forest clearance, industrial processing and significant long-term investment. Forest loss affects more than biodiversity: it can also contribute to the disappearance of native seed varieties and forest patches traditionally managed for food and medicine.

Standing forestForest-based livelihoods, açaí and other forest products, and an ecosystem that remains intact.

Land conversionClearing for large-scale agricultural production, with loss of forest structure and ecological function.

VivaTTerra’s response

VivaTTerra supports local forest-based management in TCO Tacana 1 through the purchase of açaí sourced from Carmen Pecha, one example of the land-use models VivaTTerra wants to support.

This is market participation, not charity. Buying açaí from Carmen Pecha helps strengthen the market for forest-based livelihoods, and with it the economic case for keeping the forest standing.

Read the openDemocracy investigation

Gil, K., & Acuña, R. (2021). El cultivo de caña de azúcar deforesta territorio indígena en la Amazonía boliviana. openDemocracy.