InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights to Hold Hearing on Isolated Peoples in Peru

On August 7, 2007, the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) of the Organization of American States adopted Precautionary Measure 102-07 requiring the Peruvian government to provide information about its efforts to protect the rights of indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation and initial contact that inhabit the Nahua, Kugapakori, and Nanti Territorial Reserve, affected by the Camisea Project. The IACHR called on Peru to provide information about the activities occurring in Block 88 and their possible impact on the life, personal integrity, health, environment, and culture of the communities within the Territorial Reserve. It also asked the Peruvian government to describe the actions taken to comply with the recommendations of the Reports # 101 and 103 of Peru's Defensoría del Pueblo (ombudsperson's office).

The precautionary measures stem from a petition by AIDESEP for the IACHR to intervene to protect the rights of the indigenous peoples in the Nahua, Kugapakori, and Nanti Territorial Reserve as well as the proposed Napo-Tigre Territorial Reserve in Loreto.

A hearing regarding these measures is scheduled for October 12, 2007 at the IACHR in Washington.
Servindi post (in Spanish)

Defensoria del Pueblo: Perupetro Must Coordinate with INRENA and INDEPA on New Blocks

A March 20, 2007 report by the office of Peru's Public Ombudsperson (Defensoria del Pueblo) analyzes the overlap of Peru's 18 new hydrocarbon exploration concessions with Natural Protected Areas, Protected Area Buffer Zones, Reserve Zones (a transitional protection status), and existing and proposed Territorial Reserves for indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation. The report cites date from civil society organizations that one Block, 131 overlaps with a protected area (El Sira Communal Reserve); six blocks (130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 136, and 140) overlap buffer zones; four of the blocks (135, 137, 138, and 139) overlap the Sierra del Divisor Reserve Zone; four blocks (132, 133, 138, and 139) overlap Territorial Reserves for indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation; and four blocks (135, 136, 137, and 139) overlap proposed Territorial Reserves.

The report found considerable disagreement between the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM), Perupetro - the state company that promotes hydrocarbon exploration - and Peru's natural resource agency (INRENA) in their interpretation of the law. MEM and Perupetro claim that INRENA only needs to be consulted when the contracting company submits an Environmental Impact Study (EIS) for exploration in the protected area, but does not need to be involved in the designation of hydrocarbon exploration blocks. The Defensoria's report concludes that the government must obtain a technical opinion from INRENA before it auctions off blocks in protected areas and that INDEPA should be consulted on blocks that overlap with Territorial Reserves for isolated peoples.

In an interview on "Mesa Central" on Chanel 7, Perupetro President, Daniel Saba (pictured), tried to discredit the Ombudsperson's report, questioning the organization's motives. He claimed that INRENA's only role in the process of hydrocarbon development in protected areas was to review the EIS submitted by the company and then went on to deny the existence of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation in the Peruvian Amazon. Saba dismissed evidence of the existence of isolated peoples saying that it was invented by an anthropologist who now works at the World Bank. (Ironically, the person in question, Alonso Zarzar, was head of community relations in the 1990's for Shell in Camisea and spent much of his time trying to disprove the existence of isolated peoples in the Nahua-Kugapakori Territorial Reserve in order to justify Shell's drilling there.) Saba then announced that Perupetro would do its own study to show that isolated peoples do not exist.

Link to the interview with Perupetro's Daniel Saba.
Related: Peru's New Petroleum Concession Map Covers Most of Amazon

The Camisea Chronicles

Check out Indian Country Today's recent three-part series on the Camisea Project. Reporter Lisa Garrigues visited communities in the Upper and Lower Urubamba as well as Quillabamba and reports on the conditions in the Machiguenga, Yine, and Quechua communities.

Garrigues offers an in-depth report on the changes in health, nutrition and culture in indigenous communities since the project began.

Here's a taste from the first installment on December 18, 2006:

Dr. Meliton Concha, director of indigenous health for the Quillabamba region, attributed the deterioration of Machiguenga health directly to dietary changes brought on by gas company activities. ''Before, there were fish and birds in abundance. Now the rivers are impoverished.''

Ciro Miranda, of the nongovernmental organization CEDIA, said the money negotiated in river access deals with Pluspetrol for three-year river exploration rights, which can range from $10,000 to $89,000, is minimal for the needs of the communities. Pluspetrol requires that the community present a project to them before they will disburse the funds. The projects don't always immediately alleviate malnutrition.

The series discusses some of the cultural impacts on the Machiguenga communities:

The buzz of helicopters, the churning waters of transport boats, the gas leaks that caused fish to die and skin to burn have been continual reminders in this territory that was once exclusive to the Machiguenga and other peoples.

Part 2 mentions health problems that have intensified since the project began including respiratory disease, diarrhea and syphilis.

In Part 3 of the series, Garrigues writes about what the government and companies have done to silence public criticism of the project including: cutting the budget of the Defensoria del Pueblo and thus forcing it to close it's office in Quillabamba; paying off media to slant coverage of the project; and shutting down a local television station that ran an investigative story about the project.

Photo by Adam M. Goldstein

Peruvian Comission to Evaluate Compliance with IDB Loan Conditions

An October 27 Ministerial Resolution has created a multi-sectoral committee reporting to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MEM) in order to ensure compliance with the environmental and social conditions of the InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) loan, and to determine possible changes in the government's management of the project. The commission will be comprised of MEM, the Peruvian Finance Ministry, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Health, INDEPA (institute for indigenous and afroperuvians), National Institute for Natural Resources (INRENA), the National Comission of Environment (CONAM), and the Supervisory Agency for Energy (OSINERG). The Camisea coordinating body, GTCI, will be the secretariat. Notably, Peru's Public Ombudsperon (Defensoria del Pueblo) is not included, nor any civil society organizations.

The committee is tasked with developing and action plan that includes:
Improving the Camisea Fund, aka FOCAM;
Improving compensation and indemnity procedures for affected communities;
Improve legal access in relation to defense of protected areas and indigenous territorial reserves;
Increase the presence of the government in the project area in support of an integrated monitoring plan;
Support the Protection Plan for the Nahua Kugakapori Reserve for Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation;
Implement mechanisms for participatory sustainable development in the Lower Urubamba valley;
Ensure adequate resources for protected areas;
Improve communication with civil society in the areas of influence of the project; and
Strengthen the function of PROPARACAS.

This committee is forming at the same time that the IDB is contracting ICF International to carry out its own four-month environmental and social audit of the Camisea project.