Protecting the Pachamama: Sustainable Development and Gender Empowerment in Peru

This Global Field Intensive explores the political, social-economic, and environmental conflicts that arise from the struggles over natural resources the Peruvian Amazon. While these struggles have often pitted powerful elites against poor and marginalized groups, women and Peru¿s more than 200 recognized ethnic groups have been particularly affected by Peru¿s extractive industries. The conflicts are not confined to the Amazon region but reach into the Andes highlands. Here, climate change has made it increasingly difficult to grow traditional crops, which has undermined the livelihood for many small-scale farmers. Hundreds of thousands of highlanders have left scarcity behind to look for better opportunities elsewhere. Many who have moved into the rainforest have taken up farming only to intensify the scale of deforestation. The intensification of resource exploitation has seen the Peruvian government, NGOs, and international organizations seek new ways to address the problem. These initiatives will be analyzed and discussed.