Peru moves closer to creating huge indigenous reserve in the Amazon
New area intended to protect the land and lives of indigenous peoples living in “isolation”
Gradually, very slowly if not surely, more and more of the Peruvian Amazon is being set aside for indigenous peoples who live so remotely that they have little-to-no-contact with anyone else, not even other indigenous peoples. By 1990 the first reserve had been established, by the end of the decade there were four such reserves, and then by 2002 there were five. That was followed by an almost 20 year hiatus until 2021 when another two reserves were created in a whirlwind four months, and now, following a decision by a Peruvian state Multi-Sector Commission late last month, an eighth could be in the offing.
If the eighth reserve, slated to be called the Reserva Indígena Sierra del Divisor Occidental (RISDDO), was established, it would bring the total area included within such reserves to more than 4.5 million hectares. Factor in another three proposed reserves - none of which are as advanced along the administrative process - and that area could be even greater.
The Multi-Sector Commission’s recent decision was a massive achievement, especially since the RISDDO was first proposed by indigenous federation Federación de Comunidades Nativas del Bajo Ucayali (FECONBU) almost 20 years ago. Expected to extend for roughly half a million hectares across Peru’s two biggest Amazonian regions, Loreto and Ucayali, the area is reportedly inhabited by indigenous peoples in “isolation” referred to as “Remo”, “Mayoruna” and “Kapanawa”, just some of the more than 20 such groups in “isolation” across the country. Now all that is required for the reserve to be actually established is for a Supreme Decree to be signed into law by Peru’s President, Dina Boluarte, and the Culture Minister.
Indigenous federation Organización Regional AIDESEP Ucayali (ORAU) issued a statement describing the Commission’s move as the result of “tireless work by organizations such as AIDESEP, ORPIO, FECONBU, ORAU, FECOIRP, FECIDPAM and their allies”, which ultimately began back in 2005. That statement quoted ORAU’s President, Jamer Lopez, saying the reserve is intended to “save the lives” of the peoples in “isolation” and to support the indigenous communities surrounding it, but also warned against further delays in taking the final, legal step to create the reserve.
“Delays put the rights and safety of the peoples in isolation and neighbouring communities at risk,” ORAU’s statement runs. “Speed is crucial when it comes to protecting the lives and territories of indigenous peoples.”
ORPIO, based in Loreto, issued a statement welcoming the Commission’s decision too and emphasising the amount of evidence for the peoples in “isolation” that has been collected over the years.
“The report presented [to the Commission] included around more than 300 pieces of evidence,” ORPIO states. “In addition, it included anthropological, environmental and legal studies proving they occupy those territories - satellite images, overflights, fieldwork in adjacent communities etc.”
The Commission’s decision constitutes even more of an achievement given a well-organised, well-financed campaign that has emerged, above all in Loreto, against indigenous peoples in “isolation”, which has included calling into question - or even denying outright - their existence. For example, earlier this year the mayor of Contamana in Ucayali took legal action against the Ministry of Culture (MINCU) and an NGO in an attempt to block any part of Contamana from being part of the proposed reserve.
“This decision is extremely important because, once the reserve is established, the rights to life and subsistence of the indigenous peoples in isolation and initial contact living there will be guaranteed,” Maritza Quispe, a lawyer from the Instituto de Defensa Legal, tells me. “We shouldn’t forget the only way to protect the intangibility of their territories is by establishing reserves. Threats remain, but it’s definitely a great achievement - one that has taken many years of work and campaigning, especially by the indigenous organisations who initiated the process and didn’t lose heart along the way.”
Threats remain indeed. Not only that the Supreme Decree establishing the reserve might not be emitted, but a number of logging concessions are due to overlap it. If those concessions aren’t relocated or don’t have their boundaries re-drawn and loggers enter the “isolated” peoples’s territories and make contact with them, the consequences could be catastrophic.
ReservasIndígenasYa!