The Future is Collective Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 2025

Network level ASHA brings together 28 member organizations – 25 of these organizations are Indigenous-led and three are NGOs allied to the cause.Action level ASHA assembles 30 Indigenous nations serving as traditional stewards of 86 million acres of land encompassing the watersheds of the Napo, Pastaza and Marañon River Basins, forming the headwaters of the Amazon River.Supporting level ASHA is supported by a technical secretariat that provides financial management and administration support to the alliance and coordinates various working groups focused on planning, fundraising, project implementation, evaluation and advocacy. Vision: ASHA’s collective vision is that the Amazon rainforest remains a thriving ecosystem for future generations and that the voices of its Indigenous guardians are heard and respected. Method: In order to develop its collective vision and set of pathways, ASHA – at the time named the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Initiative (ASHI) – undertook a multi- year participatory process to ensure that the voices from all nations, organizations and allies were included. The process included 10 workshops assembling the initiative’s partners, technical teams and territorial groups. In addition to these workshops, ASHI also consulted more than 50 national and international specialists. As a result of this process, ASHA published the Bioregional Plan, articulating the collectively- visioned pathways and then, in 2022, established a new Indigenous-governed alliance to work to implement the plan’s vision. Principles: ASHA is promoting five objectives to support its collective vision: 1) strengthen Amazonian well-being (through the philosophy of buen vivir); 2) ensure Indigenous self-determination and territorial governance; 3) stop the advance of extractive industries; 4) promote forest and river conservation and restoration; and 5) eliminate forest loss and ecosystem degradation. Practices: To support these objectives, ASHA has articulated nine “pathways”: 1) create a just transition from a socioeconomic model based on extraction to one based on regeneration; 2) ensure territorial governance and Indigenous self-determination; 3) increase Indigenous sovereignty through technology, transport and connectivity; 4) transition towards decarbonized renewable energy systems; 5) include intercultural ecological awareness in education systems; 6) develop intercultural health programmes in the bioregion; 7) prioritize smart city planning and the right to dignified and sustainable housing; 8) create productive economic opportunities through the forest economy and regenerative entrepreneurship; and 9) co-manage the conservation and restoration of forests and river basins. Collective architecture The collective pathway The Future is Collective: Case Studies of Collective Social Innovation 9