Between February, March, and April, twenty indigenous leaders from the Maijuna people will participate in "Communication for Social Change" workshops in their communities in Loreto. This initiative seeks to showcase, through the voices of indigenous peoples, stories that showcase the threats to biodiversity and livelihoods in their territories.

With a population of approximately 600, the Maijuna indigenous people are one of the most vulnerable in the Loreto region. Their four communities are located in a large forested area between the Napo and Putumayo rivers, forming the Maijuna Kichwa Regional Conservation Area. This territory is home to significant biodiversity and is under various threats, including wildlife trafficking, illegal hunting and fishing, logging, river mining, and the construction of a highway promoted by the Peruvian government without adequate planning.

The workshops, led by Sacha Cine in partnership with OnePlanet and Radio Ucamara, aim to strengthen Maijuna leaders and their connection to their ancestral territory through communication tools. This will allow them to create audiovisual products and photo reports to denounce environmental threats and present solutions from their perspective in community, regional, national, and international settings.

In addition, emphasis will be placed on the importance of generating empowering community processes from the Maijuna people to build their own perspectives and voices from memory for the creation of new narratives, which are much needed to defend their territory and cultural heritage.

In this way, the initiative seeks to effectively contribute to promoting conservation and preventing environmental crimes with the support of the Earth Journalism Network, Internews, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

This opportunity is made possible thanks to the generous support of the people of the United States through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The content is the responsibility of Sacha Cine and Internews and does not necessarily reflect the views of WCS, USAID, or the United States Government.