Peru and the Climate Movement

Last Winter Term, Rafael Manyari '15 took a class called "Next Steps for the Youth Climate Movement" taught by Pic Walker '93. Because of his Winter Term experience, Manyari found himself playing an important role in the youth climate movement in his home country of Peru this summer.

From late July to the end of August, Manyari interned in the Peruvian Amazon at ProPurús, a non-profit that works to promote and implement conservation initiatives to support biodiversity and the sustainable growth of local communities. ProPurús is the sister organization of Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC), lead by Chris Fagan '93. These groups work to protect Alto Purús National Park, train vigilance committees, support the land titling of indigenous local communities and more.

Manyari's role as a web-developer, translator, editor and logistics assistant gave him the opportunity to create reports for ProPurús and to plan and participate in a workshop called "The Role of Indigenous Land Titling in the Conservation of the Ucayali-Acre Border: The Alto Tamaya Case." ProPurús and the UAC flew in indigenous leaders and representatives from regional governments to discuss the importance of indigenous land titling as the first step towards preventing exploitation.

"Learning about my country's reality of cultural and biodiversity conservation showed me the high degree of exclusion that most Amazonian indigenous people live," said Manyari. "Indigenous communities are invisible to most Peruvians and the world."

The cause is one very close to Manyari's heart, but his experience at ProPurús and the UAC opened his eyes even wider to the reality of the environmental disasters happening in his country.

"Knowing that this cultural and biological diversity is disappearing every day poses a major threat to the conservation of natural resources," said Manyari. "It compromises my future and the future of the next generation of Peruvians."

After this summer, Manyari, an Environmental Economics major, now recognizes his need to take immediate action in Peru because of his education provides him with resources that most students do not have in Peru.