Sustainable livelihoods, deforestation, and supply chains: Analysis of environmental and socio-economic data from the frontier of the Peruvian Amazon

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This project supports sustainable economic development and welfare in farming communities in the Western edge of the Peruvian Amazon, by assisting a non-governmental organisation (NGO) in Peru called CIMA (Centro de Conservación, Investigación y Manejo de Areas Naturales) to analyse and manage its socio-economic and geospatial data. Through analysis of extensive secondary data on farmer households and agricultural supply chains, alongside geospatial data providing evidence of patterns of deforestation in the landscape, the project aims to gain a better understanding of current practices, challenges, and opportunities for improving agricultural sustainability in the region. It will examine the data needed to inform and monitor the levels of sustainable rural livelihoods and forest conservation in the landscape, and seek to understand how sustainable agriculture (e.g. Fair Trade and organic certifications; agroforestry schemes) can be incentivised and promoted. Importantly, the project will develop standardised processes for data analysis to help support CIMA's objectives for improving the quality of life of local communities while conserving forests.As CIMA is required to report on how its conservation work benefits local people, the project will support the development of a data management approach that is based on community needs and wants, and helps to develop a holistic approach to understanding the links between livelihoods, supply chains, and deforestation. The proposed project will involve collection, cleaning and consolidation of the NGO-held data, and develop a platform on which the data can be stored and easily accessed by CIMA in the long-term. This will support the NGO in project monitoring and evaluation duties, and reporting to funding agencies, impact investors and against policy frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals and the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Following the principles of mutual learning and transparency, all data and analysis will be shared by all members of the project team, and regular online meetings will be held between the research team and CIMA, to ensure that the data platform is developed with the input of users and to ensure that the project meets CIMA's needs. The project is based on a strong relationship between the research team and the local partners, CIMA, who have successfully worked together on a preliminary ESRC IAA fund.The research term at the University of Sussex will organise a series of three participatory workshops (project inception; capacity building; outputs and impact workshops) in Peru, with the project's beneficiaries and stakeholders, including local and national government agencies. This will help to ensure that the project is supportive of Peru's national vision for sustainable development and that the project can inform sub-national and national policy in Peru. Furthermore, the project has important implications for a large international community of practice (including business, civil society, funding agencies, governments) working on the intersection of forests, supply chains and local livelihoods; which demands a strong evidence base for action. The research team is interdisciplinary in nature, bringing together environmental scientists, human geographers, sustainable supply chain and performance indicator experts. Outcomes of the research will then also inform those various academic communities, leading to better understanding of the influences between rural development, agricultural commodity production, including for export to global markets, and environmental conservation.