Peatland monitoring in Peru: open technology and Indigenous Peoples' knowledge in service of climate action

Around the Amazonian city of Iquitos — the most populated city in the Peruvian Amazon — lie some of the largest and best-preserved tropical peatlands on the planet. These complex and little-understood ecosystems, known locally as chupaderas, store enormous amounts of carbon and support the livelihoods of Indigenous Peoples' communities. Although they cover only around 5 percent of Peru’s territory, some studies suggest that they store as much carbon below ground as all the country’s forests combined, making them key ecosystems for global climate regulation. 

However, when degraded, peatlands can release greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrous oxide (N₂O) for decades. In response to this challenge, the use of monitoring technologies — such as satellite data and drones — combined with traditional local knowledge is generating critical information to better understand and protect these ecosystems. 

To strengthen Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems for peatland ecosystems in Peru and support Indigenous-led initiatives such as the Jurisdictional Indigenous REDD+ Programme (RIJ), representatives from organizations within the Grupo Peru of Indigenous Peoples, government institutions including the Ministry of Environment (MINAM) and the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP), and international partners participated in the practical workshop “Peatland Monitoring with SEPAL.” The workshop was organized as part of FAO’s AIM4Forests programme efforts to adapt solutions to territorial realities. 

From the classroom to the forest: integrated peatland monitoring 

Over four days, representatives from Indigenous Peoples' organizations and government institutions in Peru strengthened their capacities in the use of SEPAL, FAO’s open-source platform that facilitates access to and analysis of satellite data for forest monitoring. Through hands-on exercises, participants generated land cover maps, identified peatlands, and analyzed deforestation and degradation processes. 

“Now, within the RIJ programme, this type of information will help both communities and organizations understand what is happening in the territory and identify the activities driving deforestation and degradation,” said Alex Abramonte, coordinator of the Confederation of Amazonian Nationalities of Peru (CONAP). 

The learning experience was further enriched through a field visit to the Native Community of Nuevo Jerusalén on the Tahuayo River, located within the Tamshiyacu Tahuayo Regional Communal Conservation Area. This small and remote community of Achuar and Cocama origin was selected because of its high biodiversity and the presence of well-preserved peatlands resulting from the sustainable management of natural resources. 

Among these ecosystems are aguajales, wetlands dominated by the aguaje palm (Mauritia flexuosa), which are essential for maintaining biodiversity, food security, and carbon storage. The community territory covers nearly 3 000 hectares of flooded forest and aguajales. 

There, territorial monitoring is not only a technical practice but also part of community efforts to conserve the aguajales and secure resources for future generations. 

Ana del Águila Grandes, the community’s Apu (traditional Indigenous People's authority) and mother of nine children, recalls that in the past aguaje palms were cut down to harvest their fruit. Over time, and through training carried out with partner organizations, the community adopted more sustainable practices. Today, they climb the palms to harvest the fruit while leaving part of it for forest wildlife. 

Ana now actively participates in territorial monitoring to prevent illegal logging and report threats to regional authorities. “We must protect this for the good of our children and those who come after us,” she said. 

To reach the community, the team traveled from Iquitos to Nauta by road and then continued by boat along the river before entering forest trails and flooded areas. 

Once in the field, participants divided into groups to conduct drone flights, collect data, and verify deforestation alerts using platforms such as Open Foris Ground. 

“Maps need to be validated in the field. That’s how we complete the cycle of seeing everything from space, going into the field, and verifying the reality on the ground,” explained Pablo Martín, FAO remote sensing consultant specialized in peatland monitoring. 

The exercises included delineating areas affected by disturbances such as deforestation for agricultural expansion, collecting field information through on-foot and river-based visits, and using drones to generate orthomosaics. The collected data were later integrated into SEPAL to generate information on peatland cover, land use, biomass, and pressures affecting Indigenous Peoples' territories.

A growing community of practice 

The workshop followed a peer-learning approach in which technical expertise in remote sensing was complemented by the holistic territorial knowledge of Indigenous Peoples. To support this process, GeoIndígena — an Indigenous Peoples' technical entity from Panama — contributed to the training by providing guidance on drone use to generate high-resolution orthomosaics and refine land-use change analysis using satellite imagery. 

“Sharing experiences builds trust among Indigenous Peoples' communities and also allows us to expand our knowledge on various topics,” emphasized Eliseo Quintero, General Coordinator of the National Coordination of Indigenous Peoples of Panama (COONAPIP). 

The workshop forms part of the Forest Monitoring Community of Practice promoted by FAO’s AIM4Forests programme, which encourages collaborative learning among countries, institutions, and Indigenous Peoples' organizations across the region. 

The initiative also brought together representatives from GeoIndígena in Panama, who shared experiences on the use of drones and community technologies for territorial monitoring. 

“In the end, it’s also about knowledge and experience — sharing practices that perhaps we do not have in Panama but that exist here in Peru. These are tools we can use back home, and they are also fundamental for decision-making,” said Carlos Doviaza, president of GeoIndígena, Panama. 

This space will continue strengthening capacities, facilitating exchanges, and promoting the use of open solutions for forest monitoring. 

The workshop also served as a feedback space to improve SEPAL itself, with participants sharing suggestions related to language, terminology, and usability. 

Building on this experience, the next steps include developing new SEPAL recipes and training modules that incorporate a more inclusive and integrated perspective toward Indigenous Peoples. 

“Perhaps we need to reassess how we provide this data through the platform and make it more intuitive and accessible,” said Erith Muñoz, FAO Regional Remote Sensing Specialist for Latin America and the Caribbean and member of the SEPAL team. 

In Peru, this effort will contribute to strengthening peatland monitoring under the RIJ programme. 

At the same time, exchanges among communities and countries from the region and other tropical areas — such as Indonesia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which together with Peru host some of the world’s most important tropical peatlands — will continue to be promoted.