The Amazonian Center for Anthropology and Practical Application (CAAAP) is a non-profit civil association, created in 1974 by the nine Bishops of the Catholic Church of the Peruvian jungle as an institution at the service of the marginalized populations of the Amazon, especially the indigenous peoples.
The Amazon is a vast region that covers 7 million km2, and 8 countries in South America. Peru is the second country after Brazil with an Amazonian area of more than 70 million hectares (60% of the national territory), a population of 3'672.292 inhabitants, that is 13% of the total population of the country. According to the INEI, there are 51 indigenous Amazonian peoples that represent 13 linguistic families. CAAAP works with seven of them: Awajún, Asháninka, Mai Huna, Kechwa-Lamistas, Kukama, Shipibo-Konibo and Yagua.
CAAAP collaborates with indigenous peoples to develop their negotiation skills, management of socio-environmental conflicts and political incidence; contributing to the enforcement of their human rights, environmental governance and indigenous state institutions, in alliance with other national and international actors.