FSC PIPC Regional Meeting for Latin America

The Regional Meeting of the FSC Permanent Indigenous Peoples Committee (PIPC) for Latin America, held in October 2025 in Panama, brought together indigenous representatives from South America, Mexico, and Central America, along with officials from the FSC and the FSC Indigenous Foundation. 

The day began with registration and a spiritual ceremony led by Nadia Gómez (Warpe woman and PIPC Representative for South America) and Aulina Ismare (Cacica General of the Wounaan People, Panama), creating an atmosphere of respect and cultural connection. 

The meeting aimed to strengthen indigenous participation in forest governance, promote responsible forest management, and build a shared strategic vision from the territories. 

During the meeting, notable experiences of certified indigenous forest management in Brazil and Mexico were shared, demonstrating how the integration of traditional knowledge with international standards can generate positive impacts on conservation, the community economy, and territorial governance. Likewise, the collective work spaces allowed for the identification of common challenges, such as legal certainty, access to markets, and the adaptation of certification to indigenous contexts, as well as opportunities related to the recognition of ancestral knowledge, ecosystem services, and capacity building. 

As a result, the subregions defined strategic areas of action that include governance and intercultural communication, forest certification adapted to indigenous peoples, the valuation of ecosystem services, the inclusion of indigenous women, the development of fair markets, policy advocacy and legal certainty, capacity building, strategic communication, the creation of indicator systems, and the revision of Principle 3 of the FSC to move towards an indigenous standard. These areas constitute a key roadmap for strengthening indigenous leadership and moving towards sustainable, fair, and culturally relevant forest management in Latin America. 

The PIPC is a key space for ensuring that the voices, rights, and knowledge of Indigenous Peoples influence the decisions of the FSC system. We invite you to follow us to learn more about the FSC, PIPC, its role in governance, and the initiatives it promotes in the region to strengthen responsible forest management from the territories.