On Fire | UNDP

Game of Thrones star and UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Nikolaj Coster-Waldau on a fact-finding journey to Peru, where he traveled deep into the jungles of the Amazon with the UN agency to get to the bottom of the causes – and the impacts – of the fires. His mission also offered insights into the effects of climate change on the hard-to-reach communities living in the Amazon.

Indigenous and local communities play a key role in safeguarding the Amazon rainforest, which covers more than 60 percent of Peru and is critical for our planet because it holds about 20 percent of the river water on Earth.

But in the Peruvian Amazon, many of these communities also face high levels of poverty and inequality and lack basic infrastructure and resources. Most are small farming or fishing villages whose residents live off the forest and often rely on deforesting their plots to grow food and earn a living

UNDP is supporting government, private sector and communities in their efforts to reduce deforestation and address climate change in the Peruvian Amazon. Aligned with Peru’s national policy framework, UNDP and partners address the root causes of environmental degradation through supporting inclusive governance, by providing technical assistance to stimulate sustainable economic growth and climate proof livelihoods, and through facilitating multi-stakeholder partnerships to align public and private finance in support of sustainable development.