News & Reports

Macarena was our Communications volunteer for 6 months. She decided to volunteer in search of a more fulfilling life, but little did she know that this decision would lead to a transformative experience. A six-month immersion in a world teeming with nature, knowledge, and newfoun...

Amazonian communities demand viable, culturally relevant, and productive alternatives that not only fit their cultures but also their needs and capacities. For many years now, the Chaikuni Institute has been researching, developing, and promoting regenerative techniques adapted ...

A skilled farmer, straight A student, free-range chicken raiser, dedicated father and heir to medicinal plants wisdom, Eder Baneo is multifaceted. Not only that, but he seems to have a superhuman ability to multiply the hours in a day. Regularly, he works from 6am he works in the...

They say time is relative and for our kind volunteer Laura, it flew by! She arrived at our center hoping to contribute in any way she could to help the Amazon and the people living in it. And she sure did! Laura became the leader of the nursery project. Along with Eder, a local s...

23 hours in airplanes and waiting in airports, 20 minutes by mototaxi, half an hour by boat, 1 hour on foot. 20 degrees warmer, no local train station, no bus, no metro, no hospital. No streetlights, no flushing toilets, no mirrors big enough to see your whole outfit in. No tofu...

Of all the knowledge that the peoples of the Amazon acquired from their environment, one of the most fascinating (besides the deep understanding they have reached about the world of medicinal plants and how to transform the produce and plants of their environment) is the way in w...

The Amazon rainforest is idyllic. This environment, which lies on 40% of the South American region, is home to various ecosystems like flooded and seasonal forests, making it one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Such biodiversity, however, also makes it a complicated h...

The Peruvian Amazon has at least 980 identified species of medicinal plants, which makes it an immense reservoir of active principles and knowledge with potential to treat current and future diseases. For centuries, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon have learned to use, transf...

In 2022, after years of supporting neighboring communities of our Permaculture Center to install agroforestry plots to recover and promote traditional Amazonian agroforestry practices, we began to make efforts to take our agroforestry outreach work to indigenous communities. This...

Alfredo Asipali is a family man. Born in the city of Iquitos in 1963, when he arrived to the community of Tres Unidos, he decided to make it his permanent home. Twenty-three years later, with a wife, two daughters, one son and four grandchildren, Alfredo knows this is the right p...

2022 was another important year of growth for us. We were privileged to deepen our partnership with our local allies, continuing our work through our three tematic programs: Permaculture, Intercultural Education and Human & Nature Rights. We invite you to read our annual report 2...

In 2018 we began working with local communities offering them technical assistance and inputs for the installation of their own diverse agroforestry plots (or chacras integrales, as we call them). This experience made us witness the potential of Amazonian agroforestry as a produc...

Pitit Lorena is multifaceted. She is currently studying engineering in tropical forest ecology in the local university, is passionate about nature and is in love with her career. She also takes theater classes and enjoys writing songs, singing and dancing. To know her is to admir...

Working with the local people is part of our pillars. We believe in working with the nearby communities and learning about their traditions and knowledge. Teresa Lopez is native to Tres Unidos community and part of our staff, contributing to the nursery project and the creation a...

Roldán Tumi has come a long way. Since the day he decided to leave his community, a series of experiences have made him the person he is today: an indigenous anthropologist who understands the challenges facing his people and is willing to work in service of his community. In thi...

Rivers are fundamental for all living beings. In different ecosystems they fulfill different functions, but all in all these can be summarized as: rivers are a source of life. By irrigating valleys, flooding portions of the forest, and being a source of food and income, rivers h...

“I carry agriculture as an inheritance. It’s in my blood, in my thoughts, because I grew up with it” Rafael Chanchari is the leader of Nuevo Chacatán, a Shawi community located between the cities of Iquitos and Nauta, that preserves its traditional way of life. Recently, we had ...

From October 19 to 23, 2022, our Permaculture Center was hosting an exceedingly important event with over 40 participants from 22 representative indigenous organizations from Brazil and Peru, their allies, as well as donors from the United States and Norway(1). The goal of the ev...

As with everything, in the story of these young indigenous entrepreneurs there are moments of joy, learning, indignation, and satisfaction, that they have been able to face and have allowed them to grow. In this second edition of #storiesofindigenousyouth we tell you the B side ...

Since 2012 we have been researching and recovering regenerative and healthy production methods and harmonious ways to interact with the environment that were lost with the arrival of current models of industrial development. Learning from ancestral forest farming practices of Ama...

Young indigenous students are the future leaders of the Amazon. However, they face many obstacles, from having to adapt to a different culture far from their families and communities to the daily discrimination and racism prevalent in our society. Nevertheless, despite these diff...

Despite continued obstacles and restriction due to the COVID pandemic, 2021 was an eventful year, full of learnings and achievements. Download our annual report and read about our activities and achievements from our three programs: Permaculture, Intercultural Education and Human...

From December 3rd to 5th, we held our first Diálogo de Saberes (wisdom, or knowledge dialogue) at our Permaculture Center, situated in the lower Nanay River Basin outside of Iquitos. One of the biggest and most important events in the history of our Institute, this gathering brou...

Tierra Martínez (Misiones, Argentina) will share with us his great experiences on aquatic production systems. The workshop will be from November 19 to 21. Martínez has 20 years of experience in permaculture and works in the creation of centers of reference in different climates, ...

Chaikuni was at the press conference where a group of indigenous leaders presented a demand to a Peruvian court in order to declare the Marañón River as a subject of rights or legal entity. The legal claim will grant a special protection framework to the ecosystem on which indige...

Chaikuni will launch its new sustainable food production and construction volunteer program. You must have medical insurance, and make a financial contribution that will cover your stay and food. The next entries for the volunteer program will be on April 24, May 22, and June 19....

Illegal activity affects a protected area. Dredges are located near the town center and were recognized thanks to new high-resolution satellite technology. This type of illegal mining is also practiced in rivers in Ecuador and Colombia. In the northern Amazon, located in the Lor...

A scientific article published in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) indicates that thanks to the use of smartphones and satellite data, the native communities of the Amazon region of Loreto, Peru, have managed to considerably reduce th...

2020 will forever be in our memories as the year of the COVID pandemic. In Peru, an extremely strict lockdown was imposed on March 15th and only partially lifted in the beginning of July. Throughout the year, Chaikuni provided emergency relief to many different indigenous communi...

Syntropic agriculture is an alternative to conventional farming methods and perspectives that results in soil regeneration, forest expansion, and an increase in production. It was developed in Brazil between the 80s and 90s by Ernst Götsch, who analyzed and imitated the workings ...

The date is this Friday, June 4 at 6:00 pm. Short films produced by indigenous students. It will take place in Sector 11 of the district of Belén, Iquitos. Under the moonlight and sitting in small boats like armchairs. Thus, the public will see the first Floating Exhibition of C...

The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders of the United Nations (UN), Mary Lawlor, urges the Peruvian State to stop "threats, attacks and criminalization" against those who defend the right to the land of indigenous communities, or the rights to a clean en...

Throughout the pandemic, the Chaikuni Institute has been making many efforts to support indigenous communities coping with the impacts of the coronavirus. One of the most critical projects that we have been honored to support is the initiative of the Association of Shipibo Onan...

On October 12th of 1492, Columbus and his fleet set foot on the Americas, on what is today known as the Bahamas. More than five centuries later, this event continues to generate discussion about how such a significant date should be commemorated. Currently, anti-racial discrimina...

The Amazon basin is the world’s most biodiverse terrestrial ecosystem; in 2 hectares of land, we find more plant and animal species than we find in the entire continent of North America. Hydrological cycles modulated by the trees and rivers of the Amazon also play a key role in r...

2019 was a year full of growth and accomplishments for our Institute. We invite you to re-live this year with us through this wonderfully illustrated report, offering a summary of our achievements and stunning photos from our activities and our beautiful Amazon region. Letter ...

The Amazon is still on fire. As you have seen in the news, tens of thousands of forest fires are raging across the Amazon rainforest, and continue to spread through the region at an alarming pace. The fires have devastated immense areas in Brazil, Bolivia and Paraguay. While s...

After more than four decades of petroleum exploitation in the Loreto region, communities on the petroleum circuit remain some of the poorest and most insufficiently attended people of Peru for both geographic and socio-economic reasons. A lack of access to basic resources such as...

Read our annual report and finances for 2018. Discover the inside story and the highlights from our three programs: Permaculture, Intercultural Education and Human & Nature Rights. Letter from the Director Earth Care, People Care, Fair Share: These three well known, simple, ...

Since 1979, more than 100 oil spills have occurred along the North Peruvian pipeline – a mega construction, stretching a massive 1,106 km from the Amazon to the Peruvian coast, operated and owned by state company Petroperu. The large majority of the spills happened after 2008. In...

Through the lens of young Amazonian biologist and photographer Jorge Salvador Pizarro García, Amazonian flora and fauna are not only magnified but celebrated. From brightly colored frogs and snakes to the blooming flowers of medicinal plants and trees, Jorge documents the astonis...

In the Peruvian Amazon, FORMABIAP has been a steady force for the advancement of intercultural bilingual education in a country where there are still many inequalities for indigenous peoples. Working hand in hand with indigenous organizations, communities and allies, FORMABIAP ce...

Indigenous peoples affected by oil activity in the northern Peruvian Amazon have yet again raised their voices and demands for justice in another important hearing with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), this time focused on the case of the right to water in...

Last weekend, indigenous youth of indigenous student organization OEPIAP organized a minga (communal work) in coordination with The Chaikuni Institute’s Sui Sui Program on the land which the regional government has promised them and where they hope to build their long-awaited and...

In the Peruvian Amazon, over 40 years of irresponsible oil exploitation have affected countless indigenous communities. While scientists still do not know the long-term impacts of oil spills and water contamination, the links between indigenous rights violations, socio-environmen...

Rivers are life for Amazonian peoples. Yet in Peru’s northern region of Loreto in the Amazonian jungle, nearly half a century of irresponsible oil exploitation has left rivers, streams, creeks and lakes contaminated with heavy metals. Indigenous peoples continue to demand respect...

For the first time, Amazonian indigenous youth in Peru’s northern jungle have united to create a unique and exceptional music video in seven native languages. Entitled ‘Babel’ and filmed in the cities of Iquitos and Nauta, the video clip is a production by indigenous media Ra...

Read our annual report and finances for 2017. Discover the inside story and the highlights from our three programs: Permaculture, Intercultural Education and Human & Nature Rights. Letter from the Director When I was a teenager, I had a poster of a Native American Cree prophe...

“WATER IS LIFE” Why Amazonian Indigenous Peoples In Peru Continue To Defend Their Rivers, Forests And Life? Digital Resource Created With Kichwa Federation FECONAT, 2018

As part of our work with FECONAT, Chaikuni was involved in the follow-up process of the historic Saramurillo accords signed between Amazonian indigenous organizations from five river basins affected by oil activity and the Peruvian state in December 2016 following a 117-day mob...

Read our annual report and finances for 2016. Discover the inside story and the highlights from our three programs: Permaculture, Intercultural Education and Human & Nature Rights. Letter from the Director It takes great vision to build a great organization. When I review las...

Download the report Introduction The department of Loreto, located in north-east Peru, contains by far the largest section of the Peruvian Amazon. Loreto represents 55% of Peru’s forested area, hosts Peru’s biggest national reserve and is immensely rich in flora and fauna. It...

Read our annual report and finances for 2015. Discover the inside story and the highlights from our three programs: Permaculture, Intercultural Education and Human & Nature Rights.

Since last year, we have been continuing to develop this 1 hectare forest clearing into a fully functioning Permaculture demonstration site. Our aim is to produce food, medicines and fuel from this site; experimenting with various methods, from polycultures to nutrient cycling, s...

What an exciting summer for the Chaikuni Institute, our sister organization Alianza Arkana and partners RECOVER & Terra Genesis International! For 17 days at the beginning of August our organisations came together to lead Chaikuni's first Permaculture training course: an innovat...

Chaikuni Institute's mission of regenerating the degraded rainforest landscape and creating resilient local economies will be achieved through reforestation of abandoned land and ecosocial community outreach initiatives in mestizo and indigenous villages. Our aim is to create a m...