La Comunidad Nativa Ese’eja de Infierno (Ese'eja Native Community of Infierno) was the first community to take advantage of Peru's law of native communities within the state of Madre de Dios, receiving legal title to 9,558 hectares of land on both sides of the Tambopata River in the late 1970s. As a condition of defending their lands in the 1980s, the community was obliged to set aside roughly 3,000 hectares as a communal reserve where hunting, logging, forestry, or any other type of resource extraction were prohibited.

Since 1996, in partnership with a private sector company, the community has jointly managed an ecotourism lodge called Posada Amazonas that take advantage of this 3,000 ha forest area. Between 1997 and 2007, net revenues from the lodge totaled more than USD 250,000. Profits have typically been divided equally among the community's 500 members; in 2000, the community set aside 25 percent for investment in education, enabling the construction and operation of the only rural secondary school in the region.

 

Key Facts 

Equator Prize Winner: 2002

Founded: 1996

Location: Madre de Dios state

Beneficiaries: 500 community members

Biodiversity: Harpy eagles, giant otters

 

Case Study

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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