Drone training in the Piedmont inspires Indigenous leaders from the Peruvian Amazon

Monitoring huge swaths of Amazonian forest for signs of illegal mining and deforestation is an around-the-clock job for many of South America’s Indigenous leaders. A conference at Wake Forest University is intended to equip them with modern tools to combat the growing problem. It's part of the Connecting Cultures initiative.

In a large grassy field dotted with a few small trees on the Wake campus, nine young Indigenous leaders from different regions of the Peruvian Amazon gather to witness the launch of a drone. They’re here to learn about new technologies to help them do their work at home — monitoring their indigenous lands during community patrols and reporting abuses by illegal gold miners, loggers, and narco-traffickers to authorities. Their visit, co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, is intended to raise awareness about their work, and build much-needed networks of support.

As a youth leader, Lucy Perez Odicio advocates for Indigenous rights and security and brings these concerns to the attention of state government officials in Peru.  

"Right now, one of our biggest threats is the death of Indigenous leaders," says Odicio. "Also our biggest challenge is protecting our forest and our biodiversity, and also preserving our culture. And so through this program, Connecting Cultures, us as young leaders, we’re learning to strengthen our knowledge in protecting the forests and learning more about our own biodiversity."

Miles Silman is the founding director of the Sabin Center for Environment and Sustainability at Wake Forest University and has worked in the Western Amazon and Andes since the late 90s. He says there are more protected lands in Peru’s Indigenous communities than there are at national parks. The Amazon forests hold precious resources that illegal business owners are willing to kill for.

He says the work for young Indigenous leaders like Odicio is an uphill battle, attempting to carefully monitor territory up to the size of Yellowstone National Park. He hopes the drone training session can help.

"What is most dangerous for people is when they’re out on patrols," says Silman. "And that’s where most of the environmental defenders that you read about getting killed, that’s how it happens. And so, what the drone allows these guys to do, and what they’re interested in, is they can patrol their territory; they can look at things that are changing; they can look at people coming, people deforesting, mining — those kinds of things — without having to get into confrontations with anybody and to be safe."

The four-day program concludes this week with environmental justice workshops and a lab where participants will analyze drone images of Indigenous lands.

*Editor's note: Catherine Wilson with the Interpreting and Translation Studies Graduate Program at Wake Forest University provided the oral interpreting.