Third macro-regional workshop in Iquitos with representatives from the 5 main cities of the Amazon rainforest to work on the challenges of planning sustainable urban mobility.

The event took place on 25 and 26 September 2024 and brought together officials from the provincial municipalities of Maynas, Coronel Portillo, San Martin, Moyobamba and Tambopata, representing 5 cities in the Amazon region – Iquitos, Pucallpa, Tarapoto, Moyobamba and Puerto Maldonado – that fall within the scope of the National Sustainable Urban Transport Programme (Promovilidad) of the MTC, the direct beneficiary of the cooperation programme. Representatives from the Ministry of Culture, the Loreto Regional Department of Transport and Communications and the districts of Belén and Punchana also took part in the workshop.

This initiative made it possible, on the one hand, to present the theoretical framework of concepts relating to sustainable urban mobility and its planning. On the other hand, the practical group activity enabled participants to familiarise themselves with the mobility planning process in their cities.

Over the course of the two days, which were packed with thematic presentations and discussions, participants were able to reflect on and discuss issues relating to the planning of sustainable urban mobility in cities in the Amazon rainforest, raising in particular a series of common problems and challenges: significant geographical and climatic constraints (urban areas at risk of flooding and very high temperatures), high levels of environmental and noise pollution linked to the transport sector, a high rate of motorisation, with a modal split dominated by motorbikes and motorbike taxis (very high fragmentation of the vehicle fleet), a socially sensitive mobility paradigm due to the considerable number of jobs in the provision of transport services.

In addition, Jérémy Robert, lecturer at the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and Codatu correspondent in Peru, presented the Artisanal Transport Toolbox developed by MobiliseYourCity and Codatu, which provided an opportunity to reflect on the challenges surrounding the operationalisation of planning tools in contexts characterised by significant paratransit participation in the urban mobility ecosystem. This presentation, and the discussions that followed, highlighted the importance of reforming the sector and the possible avenues to follow.

These activities are being carried out within the framework of technical cooperation between Agence Française de Développement (AFD), the Peruvian Ministry of Transport and Communications and Codatu in support of Promovilidad.