From 25 wildfires to zero in two years

Wildfires across 45 Indigenous communities along Peru's Ene River dropped from 25 in 2023 to zero in 2025, according to the Paamari programme, a collaboration between the Central Ash\u00e1ninka of the Ene River and the charity Cool Earth. The name comes from the Ash\u00e1ninka word for fire. When smoke rises near Osherato, it is often Romer Quentimari Garcia who spots it. He is a certified brigadista, trained with satellite imagery and radio systems, and he checks each plume to see whether it is a wildfire or a controlled burn. The programme launched in 2023 and pairs high-tech monitoring with generations of local knowledge. The area burned fell from 2,648 hectares to 492 in a single year, an 81% reduction. Peru had recorded more than 10,000 fires in its worst season on record two years ago. "We are the ones who take care of the forest," Quentimari Garcia says.