The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has announced the prize winners in their tenth annual Equator Initiative. This awards prizes for “outstanding community and indigenous initiatives that are advancing nature-based solutions for climate change and local sustainable development” .

The judges received 847 nominations from 127 countries. Twenty-two winners were announced on 5 June. In most winning countries there was only one award. Brazil and Haiti had two, but Peru had four.

Of the Peruvian groups receiving awards, two are highlighted for successful co-management with the government: the Reserva Comunal Amarakaeri for protection of 402,335 hectares of forest and provision of alternative livelihoods; and the Reserva Comunal Tuntanain, for successful management of 94,967 hectares of forest, protecting the headwaters of three rivers essential for water and food security.

A third prize recognises two Shipibo communities: Comunidades Nativas de Nuevo Saposoa and Patria Nueva de Mediación Callería, which have used innovative technology to protect land and end illegal deforestation.

The fourth celebrates a social business enterprise, Kemito Ene, which has been the vehicle for 300 Ashaninka families succeeding in exporting sustainably-produced cacao and conserving their forest at the same time.

Each winner receives US$10,000 and an invitation to the prize award ceremony during the 74th United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.