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Kichwa v. MINAM - press release

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Kichwa v. MINAM - decision

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In 2020, the Kichwa community of Puerto Franco challenged Peru’s Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Agrarian Development and Irrigation, and the Regional Agrarian Directorate of San Martin to recognize their territorial sovereignty over lands encroached upon by Cordillera Azul’s REDD+ project. The Kichwa claimed that the State failed to comply with its obligation to protect and title the rights to the lands under the Cordillera Azul National Park, which was created in 2001 without the consent of the communities. 

In December 2024, the Mixed Court of Bellavista of the Superior Court of Justice of San Martin ruled in favor of the Kichwa and ordered the titling of the territory to the community, the distribution of benefits from the park’s carbon credit sales, and guaranteeing the Kichwa access to the park’s natural resources. The court cited Article 89 of the Peruvian Constitution in its decision and Articles 26-27 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in its ruling to emphasize the legal principles underlying the Kichwa's rights to autonomous control over their traditional lands. The court also issued a mandatory management sharing duty to the Kichwa and ordered the resizing of the REDD+ project. Thus, the ruling established legal and procedural mechanisms for the Kichwa people to be involved in REDD+ decision-making in the National Park, thereby strengthening their customary rights over their forests. 


Kichwa v. MINAM

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An aim to achieve a quantifiable outcome within a given time-frame, set by an institution such as a national government.

Policy instruments are techniques or tools used by governing authorities to promote certain policies in order to achieve predetermined goals. Put simply, instruments are how a government tries to achieve its goals, with this taxonomy being focused on national policy instruments.

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Groups  of people who are adversely affected by climate change or the response to it

A set of principles, processes, and practices that build economic and political power to shift from an extractive economy to a regenerative economy.

Renewable energy means all forms of energy produced from renewable sources in a sustainable manner.

Fossil fuel is a generic term for non-renewable energy sources such as coal, fossil gas, and oil (including crude oil, and petroleum products), that can be used for electricity and heat generation. Fossil fuels are hydrocarbons formed from pressurised and heated organic material buried over millions of years.

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Area of the economy in which actors engage in identical or related activities.

In human systems, the process of adjustment to actual or expected climate change and its effects, in order to moderate harm, increase resilience or exploit beneficial opportunities. In natural systems, the process of adjustment to actual climate change and its effects; human intervention may facilitate adjustment to expected climate change and its effects.

The management and allocation of funds, assets and investments to meet various objectives

Households employing domestic workers, for activities like cooking, cleaning and subsistence farming, for their own use.

Social and cultural groups that share collective ancestral ties to the lands and natural resources where they live, occupy or from which they have been displaced

People with different national or cultural traditions from the dominant population

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Either money or something of monetary value is transferred between two or more organisations, people or countries.

Actions or measures to adapt terrestrial systems to climate change.

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Dedicated pool of financial resources for climate-related projects.

A loan is a policy instrument where funds are provided to a borrower with the expectation of repaying the principal plus interest.

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater, coastal and marine systems to climate change.

Zoning and spatial planning are both methods for guiding the distribution of people and activities in a space, and are regulatory restriction.

Oil is a combustible liquid fossil fuel composed mainly of hydrocarbons, occurring as crude oil and refined into petroleum products such as petrol, diesel and kerosene.

woman and genders outside of the gender binary

Actions or measures to adapt freshwater systems to climate change.

Social inclusion is the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.

Kichwa v. MINAM - press release

Policy instrument

Impacted group

Just transition

Fossil fuel

Greenhouse gas

Economic sector

Adaptation/resilience

Finance