Peru: national park 'Master Plan' opens uncontacted tribe's land to oil drilling [View all]

[Judi Lynn]

Peru: national park 'Master Plan' opens uncontacted tribe's land to oil drilling

Lewis Evans & Sarina Kidd
7th October 2016



No place for oil drilling: lonely Mountain in the Sierra del Divisor national park, Peru. Photo: Diego Pérez / El Taller / Ministerio del Ambiente via Flickr (CC BY-NC-ND).


Full credit to Peru for creating the Sierra del Divisor national park in one of the most precious areas of the Amazon, write Lewis Evans & Sarina Kidd. But not for leaving it open to oil drilling, risking the future of uncontacted indigenous tribes that depend on their pristine rainforest environment to survive.

Official documents received by Survival International reveal that the Peruvian government's 'Master Plan' for a new national park would pave the way for large-scale oil exploration in one of the Amazon's most intact areas - also home to several uncontacted tribes.

The area, known in Spanish as the Sierra del Divisor (Watershed Mountains), is part of the Amazon Uncontacted Frontier, the region straddling the Peru-Brazil border that is home to the largest concentration of uncontacted tribal peoples on the planet.

Oil exploration and development in this would pose a serious threat to the lives, lands and culture of the indigenous peoples of this remote and precious area, and could undermine their ability to pursue their traditional way of life.

More:
http://www.theecologist.org/News/news_round_up/2988208/peru_national_park_master_plan_opens_uncontacted_tribes_land_to_oil_drilling.html

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http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016168198