Uncontacted Peoples Threatened by Logging Concession in Peru
12/17/99
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RELAYED TEXT STARTS HERE:
Title: Uncontacted Peoples Threatened by Logging Concession
Source: Amazon Alliance
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 17, 1999
***** REQUEST FOR URGENT ACTION ****
Please pass this information on.
December 17, 1999
Dear Friends,
Indigenous peoples in the Alta Piedras region of Madre de Dios in
Peru, namely the Mashco Piro, Yora, Amahuaca, and Yaminahua peoples,
are being threatened by pending forest concessions. These peoples
have chosen to remain in isolation from Peruvian society and their way
of life, as well as health and natural resources will be severely
impacted by logging in this region. The Peruvian government will
decide on the licensing of the concessions sometime at the end of
December. We ask you to please take a moment to urge President
Fujimori and other officials to prevent the licensing of these
concessions. Letters in spanish from the Federation of Native Peoples
of Madre de Dios (FENAMAD) with more information and a model letter
are included below.
Sincerely,
Betsy Boatner
Program Associate
Amazon Alliance
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Ing Alberto Fujimori, Presidente de la Republica, Fax: (511) 426-6770
Ing Victor Joy Way, Primer Ministro, Fax: 447-1628
Ing Belisario de las Casas, Ministro de Agricultura, Fax: 431-0109 o
433-2951
Dr. Jorge Santisteban de Noriega, Defensor del Pueblo, Fax: 426-5617
Dear Sirs:
We write to express our grave concern regarding the licensing of
forest concession in the Alta Piedras region of the Department of
Madre de Dios between the Brazilian border and Ucallali and the effect
the concessions would have on the uncontacted indigenous peoples of
this region.
The concessions to international logging companies in the Alta Piedras
region will have a devastating impact on the Mashco Piro, Yora,
Amahuaca, and Yaminahua peoples who remain in voluntary isolation from
Peruvian society. We understand that one transnational logging
company has already begun construction of a 180 kilometer road into
the region and that there have already been confrontations with one of
the uncontacted peoples of the area.
In addition to threatening the natural resources which sustain
indigenous communities, logging operations will inevitable expose
these peoples to new diseases and violence that could cause great
suffering. We remember the Kugapakori-Nahuas of the Urubamba and Manu
basins who lost half of their community members in violent
confrontations with loggers and petroleum workers. The Mashco Piro,
Amahuaca, Yaminahua, and Yora peoples' lives depend upon the forest
and they protect it and all of its wealth.
For these reasons above, we strongly urge you to prevent the licensing
of concessions in the forests of Alta Piedras and seriously consider
the Operative Plan for defining and protecting the ancestral
territories of the indigenous people in this region put forth by the
Federacion Nativa de Madre de Dios (FENAMAD.)
Yours Sincerely,
Cc:
Antonio Iviche Quique, Presidente de FENAMAD, Fax: 51-84-572-499
Gil Inoach, Presidente, AIDESEP, Fax: 51-14-724-605