Peter Thomas, Anthropologist
Letter of support from Peter Thomas, Anthropologist
Peter Thomas Lerche, PhD J r. La Merced 775 Chachapoyas, Amazonas, Perú
Andrea (Drea) Burbank, MD CEO, Savimbo Inc. Carrera 6 - Numero #3-21 Villagarzon, Putumayo, Colombia
Chachapoyas, Perú 02-09-2023
I am sending you this LETTER OF SUPPORT as an anthropologist (Ph.D., Berlin 1985), Peruvian (since 1993) with many years of experience working with Indigenous Amazonian communities.
This is not only as the director of the Branch Office of the Ministry of Culture in Amazonas, Peru, but also as the Coordinator of "Nature and Culture International" (NCI) in the United States.
During my work with NCI as a Coordinator, in close coordination with approximately 20 Awajún native communities, we established 3 NATURAL CONSERVATION AREAS of approximately 70,000 hectares in total, managed by the Indigenous populations themselves: Pamau Nain, Tijae Nain, and Dase Nain.
The Awajún are one of the four subgroups of the Jíbara macro-ethnicity. With approximately 80,000 individuals, they are the second-largest ethnic group in the Peruvian Amazon.
Due to the mutual trust established between the Awajún and myself, as a consultant, I have maintained ongoing communication with them to this day.
BASED ON THE EXPERIENCES SUMMARIZED ABOVE, I CONSIDER THAT THE SAVIMBO METHODOLOGY, WHICH IS BASED ON INDIGENOUS ANCESTRAL KNOWLEDGE, IS IMMEDIATELY AND INCOMPARABLY MORE EFFICIENT THAN THE USUAL STRATEGIES FOR PROTECTING THE AMAZON ENVIRONMENT.
Therefore, I believe that the Savimbo methodology could also be perfectly applied in the future among the Awajún communities.
Sincerely
Peter Thomas Lerche, PhD
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