The Temple is committed to involving both the Shipibo communities from which the healers come, and the nearby mestizo villages, including San Pedro and Tres Unidos. Our work bridges gaps between western, indigenous and mestizo populations, providing an innovative approach that utilizes the intellectual resources of all for the greater good of the whole.

Located around 1 hour by boat from Iquitos, the communities nearby have been left behind in the rapid development of the city, and unfortunately a good deal of damage has been done to the local forest ecosystems by slash-and-burn agriculture. The Temple has brought a very welcome direct boost to the local economy through the provision of employment for over 30 people, and we are committed to working with the people of the nearby villages to build both systems and capabilities for sustainable land management, access to both conventional and traditional medicine, education, and other key capacities.

We are implementing a permaculture design within the healing center and adjoining community, along with the 5 neighboring villages to provide a socially and environmentally responsible demonstrative model to be shared with the local and global community, which also provides the opportunity of bringing in additional revenue to provide the capital needed to drive permaculture design projects for indigenous and mestizo communities throughout the Peruvian Amazon.

We have developed a cooperative system with the five surrounding villages for the sourcing of food  and medicinal plants for the Temple, and we are developing ecosystem-appropriate sustainable agriculture techniques in the Temple grounds and surrounding plots which will be available for adoption by local farmers, with full training and support provided. The Temple has acquired 150 acres of abandoned land nearby, and aims to purchase others which will be placed in trust for their preservation, and made available to the community for sustainable forestry uses. We are also sponsoring a waste management project in the village of Ahuaypa and paying for a full-time environmental promoter to coordinate the project.