When the Asháninka or Yánesha of the Peruvian Amazon received an offer of money to improve their lives, they had every right to be suspicious. The Amazon has a long history of outsiders arriving with promises that led to exploitation: land taken for mining, logging, industrial agriculture or energy projects, with demands to convert to a foreign religion or join armed guerrilla groups, even charity projects that have imposed changes to local ways of life.
So, in October 2022, when representatives from international climate action NGO Cool Earth suggested to three communities that they’d help people set up bank accounts and transfer regular cash payments with ‘no strings attached’, people expected a catch. ‘At first, we were very distrustful,’ says Ketty Marcelo, President of the National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP). ‘It felt more like an imposition and reinforced dependency... Later, when they told us we would co-design and build this pilot together, that’s when we felt encouraged.’
