Peru indigenous leaders push quick Amazon protection vote, defying oil industry
JUNE 22, 2020 / 4:40 PM / UPDATED 7 MINUTES AGO
Marco Aquino
3 MIN READ
LIMA (Reuters) - Peru’s indigenous leaders have been lobbying lawmakers to pass a bill to declare swathes of virgin Amazon rainforest off limits to outsiders, but they fear opposition by the oil industry may scupper a rare opportunity to secure a vote this week.
With concerns growing that the coronavirus pandemic could devastate remote communities, Congress is considering whether to fast track a bill to better protect a string of indigenous territories near the border with Ecuador and Brazil.
“Until now, high risk extractive activities have been allowed in these territories,” Jorge Pérez, president of the Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon, told Reuters in a statement.
“This reform will guarantee the lives and human rights of the Uncontacted Peoples,” Perez said, referring to an estimated 7,000 people in some 20 groups in the Peruvian Amazon who have very little or no interaction with the outside world.
Preserving indigenous territories in Peru and Ecuador is seen as critical to the wider Amazon ecosystem, which scientists warn is approaching catastrophic tipping points due to climate change and accelerating deforestation in Brazil.
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https://uk.reuters.com/article/uk-peru-indigenous-oil/peru-indigenous-leaders-push-quick-amazon-protection-vote-defying-oil-industry-idUKKBN23T335
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