Research team during fieldwork in Parinari, Peru, in 2022. The third person from the right is Mr Emilton Flores of the Grupo Esperanza management group, a pioneer in palm climbing within the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve.
Photo taken by Eurídice Honorio.

By Eurídice Honorio, Julio Grández, Jhon del Águila, Gerardo Flores, Cesar Córdoba, José Reyna, Gabriel Hidalgo, Luis Freitas, Ulises Pipa, Gonzalo Isla, Chris López, Eva Loja, Emiliana Isasi, Joaquín Gutierrez, Frederick Draper, Margarita del Aguila, Timothy Baker, Dennis del Castillo, Kenton de la Cruz, Daniel Escobedo, Ian Lawson, Manuel Martín, Estela Martinez, Jacqueline Ramirez, and Katherine Roucoux.

Read the full paper here.

Our work was led by Eurídice Honorio of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, during her NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship at the University of St Andrews. The research was conducted in collaboration with ecological and social science researchers from the Instituto de Investigaciones de la Amazonía Peruana, the Servicio Nacional de Áreas Naturales Protegidas por el Estado, Wildlife Conservation Society Peru, the Universities of St Andrews, Liverpool and Leeds.

Our research shows how conservation and development projects have helped communities and nature thrive together in Amazonian peatlands. In this ecosystem, people depend on a palm called Mauritia flexuosa for its fruit, which they sell and use for food. However, to harvest the fruit, palms are often cut down, damaging the forests and reducing future harvests. To solve this, two rural communities, Veinte de Enero and Parinari, in Peru began climbing the palms instead of cutting them down between 1999 and 2002. This shift was supported by conservation programs that aimed to protect the environment and support local livelihoods.

In this study, we assessed if this change made a difference for the forests and the people. To do this, we interviewed community members about their experiences and collected data from the forests. We measured the number of young palms, the proportion of male and female palms (important for fruit production), and how much fruit was harvested. We also looked at how incomes had changed since climbing started.

We found that climbing has helped both the forests and the people. The palm populations are recovering, with more young trees growing and better forest health overall. People also reported harvesting more fruit and earning more money than before. Compared to areas where climbing has not been adopted, these managed forests are doing much better.

This study shows that long-term support and sustainable practices can create positive outcomes for both communities and the environment. However, cutting down palms is still common in Amazonia. We highlight the need for sustainable techniques like climbing to be adopted more widely to protect peatlands, which store a lot of carbon and are vital for the planet. Achieving this will require fair prices for sustainably harvested products, affordable management plans, and collaboration between local people, conservation groups, and policymakers.