A groundbreaking pilot project in which Indigenous people in the Peruvian Amazon were given an unconditional basic income significantly improved community wellbeing, strengthened food security and supported rainforest protection, according to analysis by the University of Bath released today.
Managed by the climate charity Cool Earth, the pilot project is the first of its kind to provide Amazonian Indigenous people with a basic income, and offers compelling new evidence that direct cash support can benefit both people and the planet.
During the two-year pilot 211 people in three communities in Peru’s Asháninka region were given a basic income in the form of cash transfers of 1,032 Soles – equivalent to £2 a day – to spend as they liked.
Using a ‘Cash Plus’ model, the pilot also delivered a complementary programme of community-led training, covering financial education, Indigenous rights and governance, environmental conservation and climate change.
Analysis of the pilot by researchers from UBI Bath, the University of Bath’s Universal Basic Income Research Group, examined changes and outcomes across areas including income generation, livelihoods, community cohesion, education, food security and nutrition, and environmental stewardship.
Key findings
The key findings include:
- Close to 90% of participants adopted environmentally beneficial practices, including an 87% active participation rate in collective actions like native reforestation, reducing forest burning, and restoring critical water springs
- 85% of participants reported that the pilot empowered local leadership, leading to enhanced social cohesion and a greater capacity for self-organized community initiatives
- Sharp reduction in food insecurity: Households unable to afford nutritious food fell from 73% to 26%. Meal skipping dropped from 49% to 22%
- Poverty down, stability up: 70% of households were able to save money, up from 49%
- Reversal of labour migration: the share of participants forced to leave their homes to find external labour, often precarious, fell from 43% to 18%
- Major gains in housing quality, sanitation, energy access and asset ownership
- Higher wellbeing and optimism for the future: Self-reported wellbeing scores more than doubled over the study period
- Participants consistently reported that the income enabled them to shift away from short-term survival work and invest time in farming, family life and community initiatives
Dr Neil Howard, UBI Bath Lead and Reader in Bath’s Department of Social & Policy Sciences, said: “Giving historically marginalised Indigenous people a no-strings basic income brings a multitude of benefits both to their communities and their environment.
“Cash makes a massive and immediate difference to people’s lives, whether it’s reducing outward migration for work, reductions in poverty or enabling future planning and investments. The ‘Plus’ element of this project, providing help to communities to organise, also leads to better farming techniques and skills, land use and richer community life and better relationships.
“All of this helps ethical conservation. The incentive to exploit or abandon land is diminished, and people are put front and centre with respect and dignity, which contrasts sharply with the colonial history of conservation and Indigenous policy.”
Cool Earth co-developed the basic income pilot with two all-female Indigenous-led organisations; the National Organisation of Indigenous Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru (Onamiap), and the Organisation for Indigenous Women of the Central Selva of Peru (Omiaasec). The aim was to develop a programme that met people’s needs in the fairest way possible and in the longer term stop deforestation in the region. They also partnered with International Aid and tech organisation AidKit to work out how to deliver cash to communities in the forest.
The pilot project will now be adopted by Cool Earth as part of its work on an ongoing basis. The charity is scheduled to enter a project design phase later this year to collaborate with new communities in the central Amazon region of Peru, adding to the base of evidence from which to further policy engagement with the concept of basic income for conservation. Cool Earth is also open to further long-term studies of impacts in the future.
Designed as an alternative to traditional, top-down conservation approaches, the programme was rooted in a principle of reciprocity, recognising Indigenous communities as essential stewards of ecosystems rather than passive beneficiaries.
Sofia Vargas, Cool Earth's Peru Country Manager, said: "Contrary to traditional critiques that basic income creates dependency or reduces work incentives, this first of a kind pilot shows the opposite.
"By alleviating the pressure of immediate survival, regular income enabled rainforest communities to invest in long-term planning and productive assets. They redirected time and resources into their own smallholder agriculture, while investing in formal education for their children, household technology like solar panels and wifi, and savings, which helps families become more resilient to the impacts on crops and homes due extreme weather, flooding and wildfires that are increasing in region due to climate change.
“The report shows substantial improvements at both household and community level, showing that cash and financial training are mutually reinforcing. Cash helps create more resilient rainforest communities, and financial training means the impact will be long lasting, encouraging financial planning as individuals and a community and shared action so forests remain standing.”
Participants' views
Elida de la Cruz, Vice-President of ONAMIAP, said: “We have learnt a great deal from this initiative; it has not been easy, and as ONAMIAP we have worked to strengthen the technical team so that they can take the lead on the ground. We have learnt that our sisters have the capacity to carry out these projects on the ground.”
Ketty Marcelo, chair of Omniaasec, said: “I have seen changes in the strengthening of the community fabric. The communities have gained a great deal of insight and reflection, particularly on staying united, organising themselves as a community, knowing their rights, and also understanding that, because we live in indigenous communities and defend our collective rights, we must look beyond monetary considerations to the collective good.”
Food, Health and Education Gains
The pilot drove major improvements in both diet and health outcomes. Families reported moving beyond basic staples to more diverse and nutritious diets, including increased consumption of protein and fresh produce. These changes were linked to reduced illness, lower stress and anxiety, and improved access to healthcare and medicines.
At the same time, education emerged as a key long-term benefit. Over three-quarters of participants financially supported a family member’s education, with many reporting the ability to consider secondary and higher education for the first time.
Supporting Forest Protection and Climate Resilience
Crucially, the pilot also showed promising environmental outcomes, a rare feature in basic income research. Close to 90% of participants reported adopting environmentally beneficial practices, including reforestation and tree planting, protection of water sources, reduced forest burning and the revival of Indigenous agricultural knowledge.
The researchers also found that these changes were not driven by financial incentives alone, but by improved economic security, stronger community organisation and renewed environmental awareness.
“The findings suggest that when communities have greater security and autonomy, they are better able to protect the ecosystems they depend on,” said Dr Nick Langridge, a member of the UBI Bath team and a co-author of the report.
Limitations and Next Steps
The researchers note that the study was conducted over a relatively short period and did not include a control group, meaning further research is needed to assess long-term impacts and scalability.
Later in 2026 Cool Earth aims to roll this out to other communities in the Peruvian Amazon and in Colombia to prove its wider applicability. The charity is also busy influencing global policy makers in the UK and Colombia, with the aim that they will role this out to all rainforest communities as a more direct way of protecting the world’s forests. So far, they have met with HM Treasury, DESNZ, DEFRA, and Colombian Congress members.
The report Fighting the climate crisis with reciprocity: Towards Indigenous autonomy is available now at https://tinyurl.com/4m46x5bv.