- The Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve, created in May 2024, spans over half a million hectares (over 1.2 million acres) in the Peruvian departments of Ucayali and Loreto.
- The Indigenous People’s Regional Organization of the Eastern Amazon (ORPIO) described the creation of the reserve as a victory — not only for the Indigenous people who call it home, but also for those who defend human rights and the environment in Peru.
- Indigenous activists say the government must now create a protection plan for the reserve in order to guarantee not only the protection of Indigenous people living in isolation and initial contact, but also to support the communities surrounding the reserve in fulfilling their basic needs.
In May 2024, Indigenous organizations in Peru’s Amazon achieved a milestone in a campaign that lasted for almost two decades. Indigenous peoples living in isolation and initial contact (PIACI) will be protected within the recently declared Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve, a territory they’ve long inhabited — and place where they have historically faced pressures that threaten their existence.
The Indigenous reserve spans 515,114 hectares (over 1.2 million acres) in the Peruvian departments of Ucayali and Loreto. The Peruvian government officially recognized several isolated Indigenous communities that will be protected within the reserve: the Remo (or Isconahua), the Mayoruna (Matsé and Matís), and the Kapanawa.
“We are going to pay attention and fight for the defense of our PIACI brothers and their rights. We want this wonder of the human race, which still exists in this corner of the world in which we live, to be respected for decades,” said Apu Beltrán Sandi Tuituy, the president of the Indigenous People’s Regional Organization of the Eastern Amazon (ORPIO). ORPIO is a collection of 40 Peruvian Indigenous federations and is one of the Indigenous organizations that promoted the creation of the reserve.
In 2005, the Federation of Native Communities of Lower Ucayali (FECONBU), with support from the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), began the process for officially recognizing the Indigenous reserve. However, it wasn’t until 2018 that the Multisectoral Commission of Law #27836 — also known as PIACI Law — approved the Preliminary Recognition Study. This study obtains scientific evidence confirming the existence of isolated or recently contacted peoples. The Supreme Decree, which declared the recognition of these particular communities living in isolation, was published in 2019.
A new decree, published on May 22, 2024, states that the goal of the reserve’s declaration is to protect the rights, territory, and conditions that will ensure the existence and integrity of the Indigenous people living in isolation. This includes the use and management of natural resources for their survival.
According to ORPIO, the Preliminary Recognition Study considered more than 300 pieces of evidence about the presence of PIACI in the region, in addition to environmental, legal, and anthropological studies, which included satellite images, flyovers, and fieldwork in surrounding communities. This information demonstrated the Indigenous people’s historical — and continued — occupation of this territory.
“The creation of the Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve represents a victory — not only for the PIACI, but also for those who defend human rights and the environment in Peru. It is a testament to the resilience and strength of the Indigenous communities and a reminder of the importance of protecting and preserving ancestral territories,” said ORPIO.
What threatens the richness of Sierra de Divisor
The land within the Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve consists of rolling plains, terraces, flatlands, and forests standing over high hills.
The reserve extends between the districts of Maquía, Alto Tapiche, and Emilio San Martín (in Requena Province), the districts of Vargas Guerra, Contamana, and Padre Márquez (in Ucayali Province in the department of Loreto), and the District of Callería (in Coronel Portillo Province in the department of Ucayali).
“This territory is important, ancestral, and still relevant to the Indigenous people in isolation. It is very rich in biodiversity and, despite all of that, we — the Indigenous people — have put almost 19 years of management and pressure on the government, through the Ministry of Culture, so that this reserve could be created,” added Beltrán Sandi Tuituy.
According to information delivered to Mongabay Latam by Peru’s Ministry of Culture, this territory—which spans more than half a million hectares—is considered “intangible.” This means that the only activities that can take place inside it are those of a traditional nature or for survival practiced by the communities surrounding the protected site. These activities must be compatible with the rights and traditional customs of the Indigenous people in isolation who live and move around in the reserve.
The results obtained for the declaration of the reserve highlight the importance of conserving all of the resources that the communities living in isolation need to survive. The most frequent types of activities in these communities are harvesting the food they eat and using resources. In second place are hunting, horticulture, and the extraction of mineral resources.
According to the Ministry of Culture, the items they typically harvest are mainly non-timber resources from the forest, including the fruits and leaves of several palm trees. They used some of these resources to construct malocas (longhouses) and produce arrows, loincloths, hammocks, and “passage-restricted” signs. Regarding mineral resources, they use stone and clay to create axes, daggers, jars, pots, and pitchers. The eggs of the yellow-spotted river turtle (Podocnemis unifilis) are the leading animal resource collected by the Indigenous people of this area; this often occurs when the river water level is low.
Their crops, which they grow using traditional Indigenous methods, include peach palms, plantains, bananas, yucca, pineapple, corn, cotton, and sugarcane. Primates, as well as some species of birds, reptiles, and mammals (mainly rodents), are the most frequently hunted animals.
This natural richness has been constantly under pressure. The Ministry of Culture explained to Mongabay Latam that two threats have been identified in the area of the Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve: deforestation (caused by illegal logging and the creation of roads in the forest) and the cultivation of coca.
“There are forest concessions within the reserve’s territory. This must be undone. [Our] uncontacted brothers move from one place to another, and if private companies enter a place where they are, they move to another place. They have practically no freedom; they cannot be calm in their territory. There are also drug traffickers in that area. The government needs to move and not abandon these issues. There is also the threat of illegal roads [and] there are even clandestine airports in those places, and they take coca from there. That is worrisome,” said Beltrán Sandi Tuituy.
The protection plan
The creation of the reserve was not the only pending step in the process. Based on the decree, several other measures are necessary to guarantee the protection of the Indigenous people living in isolation and initial contact. These range from detailed surveillance to site monitoring to coordination with various people involved on a local level.
The development of a protection plan for the Sierra del Divisor Occidental Indigenous Reserve is the main — and most urgent — task they await, according to Beltrán Sandi Tuituy.
According to the Ministry of Culture, this plan will establish the specific actions each sector, institution, or organization must complete as part of its responsibilities. The decree specified that a management committee will be created and that the participation of Indigenous organizations will be guaranteed. The result must be approved within 60 days of the publication of the Supreme Decree. In a June 6 meeting between ORPIO and the Minister of Culture, Leslie Urteaga, compliance with these legally mandated deadlines was requested.
“What is now awaited is the protection plan, because it doesn’t do anything if [the reserve] has been created but then that it is abandoned. What we need is a plan to protect this territory,” added Beltrán Sandi Tuituy.
“The management committee must be created with the federations that are in the [area of] influence of this reserve, and this protection plan must also be implemented with the basic necessities of the communities that are nearby so that they can protect the PIACI. If we do not promote a series of projects, we are going to be abandoning these people. They need internet, health[care] and education so that these communities, which have no budget, feel protected and supported. If we do not do that, then we are not going to be protecting the PIACI,” added Beltrán Sandi Tuituy, the Indigenous leader.
With this in mind, the Ministry of Culture declared that it will unite with different sectors and levels of the government to bring services closer to the population living around the reserve. They also have the goal of expecting their active participation in the protection of the communities living in isolation.
The most significant concern for the Indigenous organizations is that illegal companies could continue to do business with the surrounding communities to extract natural resources, according to Beltrán Sandi Tuituy.
“The people taking part in illegal activities are not interested [in the fact] that there are uncontacted human beings there. They destroy everything and, if it is possible, they kill them if they find them, because for them, these uncontacted people are an obstacle. But we defend these lives, and it is a concern for us,” said Beltrán Sandi Tuituy, the president of ORPIO.
The Ministry of Culture of Peru reported that, as its primary mechanism to manage the reserve, it will implement a network of control and surveillance stations located in key access spots to the protected area. Protective agents will work from these stations.
Their work, in coordination with specialists and liaisons, will include carrying out patrols (on the ground, by river, and from the air), in addition to monitoring and accompanying representatives from other sectors of the Peruvian government. In addition, they will carry out control actions and provide early warnings to combat the illicit activities that threaten the lives and integrity of the Indigenous people in isolation.
The Ministry of Culture added that it is tasked with preparing a budget for the development of any necessary additional studies and guaranteeing the intersectoral coordination of the institutions that are members of the PIACI Multisectoral Commission, which is the collective body in charge of evaluating and approving these technical studies.
“We are going to keep fighting for their territory so they can stay here,” said Beltrán Sandi Tuituy. “A territorial corridor should also be established for the Indigenous people in isolation and initial contact, but also for the continuous forests, which are a marvel. This is why our concern is to protect them and make demands from the government. That is our objective.”
Banner image: Malocas, or longhouses, belonging to Indigenous people living in isolation. Image courtesy of ORPIO / IBC.
This story was reported by Mongabay’s Latam team and first published here on our Latam site on June 12, 2024.
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