Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II

by Acate Amazon Conservation
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II
Sustaining Matses Indigenous Medicine - Phase II

Project Report | Apr 1, 2025
Ensuring Food Security and Climate Resilience in a Time of Change - Part 2

By Christopher Herndon and William Park | Co-Founders

Matses traditional healing
Matses traditional healing

Part 2 of our GlobalGiving report on the extraordinary initiative advanced by Acaté and the Matsés designed to strengthen food security, climate resilience, women’s empowerment, economic development, medicinal agroforestry, and more!

The Acaté team and the Matsés have been hard at work advancing the second year of our integrated aquaculture (fish farms) project, initially reported in our September 2023 Field Report and in our previous GlobalGiving Report. This initiative is one of our largest and most technically challenging projects to date, with far-reaching benefits.

We are pleased to report the successful development of over 30 integrated aquaculture systems of impressive scale in Matsés communities designed to enhance food security, reduce hunting pressures, create economic opportunities, and support a truly extraordinary medicinal agroforestry initiative. Each site integrates native fish production with agroforestry. The trees planted in the agroforestry areas serve four main functions. The first is nutrition for the Matsés, especially the children. The second is food for the frugivorous fish species. The third is the medicinal agroforestry component which provides both medicinal plants and training areas for apprentice traditional healers. The fourth is habitat and leaf-cone nesting sites over the water for the culturally and economically important kambo tree frogs.

By stacking functions in this manner, the Matsés are maximizing the use of the areas near their villages and enhancing its productivity. For example, the muck from the ponds increases the productivity of their staple crops planted near the ponds and increases the resilience to potential disturbances. For the Matsés communities, the direct benefits include enhanced food security, most importantly protein availability for children, increased economic opportunities, and easy access to plant medicines along with supporting a new generation of traditional healers. The indirect benefits include the recovery of fish stocks in the rivers, reduced hunting pressures on game species, and the reduction of the labor needed to meet their basic needs.

The project is immensely popular with the Matsés and has resulted in the establishment of the first Matsés Women’s Association, with active chapters in all nineteen Matsés communities. Matsés women are engaging in new community roles and governance, amplifying the voices of Matsés women in governance as never before.

Community-based fish farms are commonly undertaken projects for NGO and governmental agencies in the Peruvian Amazon. Examples, however, of successful community-based fish farm projects are hard to find. In addition to the multitude of on-site technical challenges that need to be overcome, failures result from poor implementation, inadequate cultural considerations and beneficiary engagement, and, particularly, from a lack of follow-through. The success of our initiative has reached the attention of several Peruvian governmental agencies, which have extended offers of collaboration. We have expanded the project to include the Kokáma indigenous people of the Marañón River, where the project leaders will help them replicate and adapt the project for their communities who face significant food security pressures and severe impacts of climate change.

For detailed reporting on the first year and a deep dive about the construction of fish farms, please read our September 2023 Field Report and our prior GlobalGiving Report.
Part 2
Matsés Women’s Association

The aquaculture project was operationally paired in the formation of the first Matsés Women’s Association, which, along with other critically important governance, empowerment and economic functions, are in charge of the long-term maintenance of the fish farms. Many young Matsés mothers joined this association because they are concerned about future food security and the availability of protein for their children. They are committed to create economic opportunities for their families that don’t involve work in the dangerous, back-breaking, and poorly-paid timber cutting industry or where men have to be away from their communities for prolonged periods of time.

Women are underrepresented in Matsés tribal leadership in general and women’s issues are too often de-emphasized during meetings. There was considerable excitement among the Matsés women for the creation of this association. Reservations were initially expressed by some women on the effectiveness of this association. In the past, various NGOs and agencies had received international funding to set-up women’s empowerment projects and workshops. The projects never materialized and the workshops turned out to be effectively one off photo-ops where one or two Matsés women traveled to the cities of Lima or Iquitos for a day. In one workshop held in Lima, translation services were not provided even though the selected Matsés woman representative was not a primary Spanish speaker. Fortunately, initial doubts changed to enthusiasm as the practical nature of the Matsés Women’s Association became apparent, the role of Matsés women in leading it and shaping its direction, and the role of the association in coordinating the sustainable economy program.

The approach was not to create an organization top down with one governing board for the entire Matsés population, but to establish, one at a time, chapters in each village. The women’s association’s role in the Matsés community was then codified in the native community governance and the CCNN Matsés now has chapters of the Women’s Association in all nineteen villages. These chapters are led by a president and a three-member board selected in an election in each village and approved by the general assembly of the village. The Matsés Women’s Association began participation in our sustainable economic programs.

The formation of a Matsés Women’s Association has allowed Acaté to work directly with the women’s association to manage the traditional crafts project. They equitably distribute the sales to their membership and deliver quality-controlled items to our staff. In addition, the sustainable economy program has already yielded a significant order generating income for the membership.

The Matsés Women’s Association has amplified the voice of women in the community. With each village having its own Women’s Association the women can be better organized and form a consensus among their membership with regards to issues of community life.

Due to the increased organization of the village level, we are now seeing more women who are delegates to the general assembly (the maximum authority a native community where legally binding decisions are made). In the last assembly meeting in July the new leadership of the Women’s associations and the local chapters were all recognized, and it was agreed that the role and representation of women should be increased. For example, all the Matsés agree that it is a good idea for women to train as traditional healers with the remaining elder healers. Women now take at least half of the places in the traditional medicine courses and hopefully seek training to become health promoters for their community!

Medicinal Agroforestry

In addition to the new aquaculture systems, we incorporated medicinal agroforestry plantings or “Healing Forests” to the areas around the existing ponds. The goal of medicinal agroforestry is to train young Matsés in the use of their ancestral medicinal knowledge and to plant medicinal trees, vines, and epiphytes. This design methodology adds nested functionality or what in permaculture is called “stacking functions”. This increases the productivity of the area and adds efficiency.

In each site between 1500 and 2000 trees are being planted. The diversity of trees, vines, and epiphytes planted is unprecedented and would stand alone be an extremely impressive reforestation project by any measure.

The Matsés carefully select and transplant many of the trees as saplings from the surrounding forests. These saplings, generally growing in the shade of a larger tree, can be many years old. Over the years these saplings have developed defenses and root structures to survive in the shade while waiting for an opening in the canopy and additional light to allow them to grow rapidly. This technique markedly increases the success rate of the plantings, simply planting seeds for many species in sun-exposed open areas of eroded soils will not work.

The subject of the Matsés’ traditional knowledge of medicinal plants is immense and beyond the scope of this report. For each integrated aquaculture system built there are six Matsés apprentices trained including at least three women receiving training from the elders in the use of the Matsés traditional medicine. food security climate resiliency

The apprentices are a mix of the best students from previous training sessions and new students as determined by the elders. In addition to the six official participants in each village there have been volunteers who are auditing the course. Some of the apprentices that started in the program eight years ago are now teaching others the medicines that they know.We are grateful for our funders whose support and vision made this extraordinary work possible and look forward to realizing the full potential in this year!
Fish farm in Matses village
Fish farm in Matses village
Matses woman leading
Matses woman leading
Learning from the elders
Learning from the elders
Matses apprentice
Matses apprentice
Transmission of ancestral knowledge
Transmission of ancestral knowledge

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Dec 4, 2024
Ensuring Food Security and Climate Resilience in a Time of Change - Part 1

By Christopher Herndon and William Park | Co-Founders

Aug 6, 2024
August 2024 Field Report - Mobile App Launch for Territorial Protection and Cultural Preservation!

By Christopher Herndon and William Park | Co-Founders

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Organization Information

Acate Amazon Conservation

Location: San Francisco, CA - USA
Facebook: Facebook Page
Twitter: @acateamazon
Project Leader:
Christopher Herndon
San Francisco , CA United States
$12,216 raised of $33,340 goal
 
345 donations
$21,124 to go
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