Contribution short abstract:

Community-based monitoring in the Amazon implicates a multidimensional combination of diverse actors and perspectives. The changes of local technologies are noticeable on a social, ecological and economic level. These has effects on indigenous communities as well as on (trans-)regional cooperation.

Contribution long abstract:

According to preliminary findings of the research project ‘Jaguar, drone, human: indigenous vigilance in the Amazon’, community-based (environmental) monitoring in the Amazon constitutes a multidimensional combination of diverse actors and perspectives. The short- and longterm assemblages of local actors, such as indigenous communities, non-governmental organizations, extractivist companies and the state, generate effective forms of vigilance aimed at protecting their own territory, nature in general and other indigenous communities. Among others, there is an intertwining of social, ecological and economic interests as well as a transformation of local practices through advancing technologization. In particular, the use of GPS devices, smartphones and drones is having an influence on the dynamics within community-based environmental monitoring. In addition, there is an increased economization of environmental monitoring, which has transformative effects on the indigenous communities themselves, but also on the dynamics between the actors mentioned above. The paper presents examples from the southern Amazon region in Peru and discusses questions relating to local responsibilization practices, specific assemblages, global attention and the interplay of indigenous and ‘western-scientific’ knowledge.