The Amazon
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Lizardo Cauper, president of Peru's alliance of Amazonian peoples, AIDESEP, issued an urgent call for authorities to open dialogue with indigenous communities in the northern region of Loreto rather than militarizing the area in response to mounting social conflicts and attacks on the North Peruvian Pipeline. Noting that the aging pipeline is in chronic disrepair, with repeated spills contaminating the rainforest, Cauper said: "We have made a call that, in place of militarization, they put in place a new pipeline. But it is not enough to have a new pipeline, but to respond to the demands of the people who are living around these oil activities." Regional authorities have called upon Lima to declare a state of emergency in response to paralysis of the pipeline, which delivers crude from rainforest oilfields over the Andes. (Photo: Andina)

The Amazon
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The White House is accusing Peru of violating its commitment to protect the Amazon rainforest, threatening to hold Lima in violation of the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement . Robert Lighthizer, President Trump's top trade negotiator, announced that he is seeking consultations with Lima to address concerns about its recent move to curtail the authority of Peru's auditor for timber exports, the Organism for the Supervision of Forestry Resources (OSINFOR), established as a provision of the trade agreement. The move move had been demanded by Peru's logging industry following an OSINFOR seizure of illegal timber. The White House needs support from congressional Democrats to pass the pending US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, Trump's replacement for NAFTA, which is supposed to have tougher labor protections. The forestry annex in the Peru agreement was conceived as a model for a new inspection system that could include confiscation at the border of goods found to violate treaty provisions, and the prosecution of companies that import noncompliant products. (Image via Sierra Club)

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On his first day in office, President Jair Bolsonaro issued a measure taking away responsibility for indigenous land demarcation from the indigenous affairs agency, FUNAI, and handing it over to the Agriculture Ministry. In the same decree, Bolsonaro shifted authority over regularization of quilombos (Afro-Brazilian collective lands) from the agrarian reform institute, INCRA, to the Agriculture Ministry. The measure greatly weakens FUNAI, taking away its most important function. In practice, key areas of indigenous and quilombo policy will now be in the hands of agribusiness advocates—a long-time demand of the Bancada Ruralista (agribusiness lobby) in Congress. Bolsonaro is openly calling for abolition of Brazil's large indigenous reserves, a move with grave implications for the Amazon rainforest and global climate. (Photo: Kayapo women in Brazilian Amazon, via FUNAI)

The Amazon

Ecuador to renegotiate Amazon oil deals

Ecuador announced it will renegotiate contracts with foreign oil companies, seeking up to 90% of revenues for the state. Under a new law, the state is 100% owner of crude oil resources.

The Amazon

State of emergency as Bolivian rainforest burns

President Evo Morales has declared a state of emergency in Bolivia’s Santa Cruz department, one of four in the nation battling wildfires that are consuming the eastern rainforests.

The Amazon

Peru: Amazon strike spreads to north

Thousands of indigenous protesters are blocking river ports in Peru’s northern region of Loreto to press demands for the titling of native lands and payment for use of the waterways by oil companies.

The Amazon

Peru: regional strike paralyzes south over gas exports —again

With banners reading “Defend the Rainforest” and “No Dams on Our Rivers,” indigenous followers of the Native Federation of the Rio Madre de Dios (FENAMAD) marched on the Peruvian jungle city of Puerto Maldonada July 28. As Peru celebrated its Independence Day, much of the southern regions of Cusco, Puno, Madre de Dios and Apurímac were paralyzed by a general strike to call a halt to the export of natural gas from the Camisea field in the rainforest of Cusco region, as well as construction of the Inambari hydro-electric plant. It is the second general strike in as many months to halt traffic and business in Peru’s Southern Macro-Region—and this time the strike has been declared open-ended.

Photo: FENAMAD

The Amazon

Peru: logging threat to uncontacted tribes

Illegal mahogany loggers are plundering uncontacted indigenous peoples’ land in the depths of the Peruvian Amazon, according to a new report by the Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC).