UK PACT Unveils £1.18 Million Boost for Peru’s Amazonian NTFPs
- Jul 15
- 2 min read
15th July 2025
By Paula Perrelli dos Anjos
Last Friday in Lima, Peru’s capital, UK PACT officially launched the flagship Peru programme with a meeting at the Hilton Hotel, bringing together leaders from government, NGOs, and the private sector.
The panel included Gavin Cook, the UK ambassador in Peru, Diana Del Aguila, Environmental Finance Director for the Ministry of Environment, and Miguel Pachecho, Country Director for Rainforest Alliance.
With a budget of £1.18 million, the project aims to boost the competitiveness of Peruvian non-timber forest products (NTFPs) - such as aguaje, camu camu, and others - in the international market.
Amazonia Impact Ventures (AIV) is part of the consortium responsible for upgrading production methods, strengthening value chains and securing trade agreements. Over the next 24 months, the project will operate across San Martín, Loreto and Ucayali regions (home to 70% of Peru’s Amazon) and will involve 10 forest-based communities.
“UK PACT presents an excellent opportunity for us to expand our operations in Peru while diversifying our portfolio with other NTFP, like camu camu, aguaje and huito - used for food, medicine and dye for centuries by indigenous peoples. We’re deeply grateful to the British Embassy in Lima for championing innovation and sustainability to support the bioeconomy in the region,” commented AIV’s Managing Director, Aldo Soto.
Some of the UK Pact targets are:
20% increase in both sales revenues and volumes for SMEs and cooperatives.
4 new trade agreements, including 2 with UK partners.
Sustainable management expanded across thousands of hectares of tropical forest.
“By supporting cooperatives and SMEs to access international markets, we improve forest livelihoods and biodiversity conservation,” added Soto.
AIV’s team has been in discussions with the UK Embassy in Lima for several months and will offer bespoke technical assistance and impact-linked finance.
The consortium is led by Rainforest Alliance, in partnership with Terra Nuova, Nature and Culture International (NCI), Peru’s Association of Exporters (ADEX) and AIV.
UK Pact will also engage national agencies (MINAM, SERFOR, SERNANP), regional governments and Indigenous federations to embed the project in policy and practice, ensuring harvested products meet international standards of quality, legality and sustainability.
Barriers To Success
The key barriers to the Amazonian NTFPS bio-business sector are:
Low quality and productivity due to inefficient, environmentally harmful processes.
Production chains focused only on niche markets rather than scale.
Insufficient financing, incentives and financial instruments tailored to the value chains.
High climate-change vulnerability, with limited risk-management tools.
About UK PACT
UK PACT (Partnering for Accelerated Climate Transitions) is a flagship programme under the UK’s International Climate Finance (ICF) portfolio. The programme is jointly governed and funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ). UK PACT programme delivery is led by Palladium International Limited.
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