World · Latin America · 9 hrs ago
Peru reconsiders reserve expansion for isolated Mashco Piro people
A Peruvian government commission has reopened a study on expanding the Mashco Piro reserve instead of moving ahead with the proposed expansion.
The Mashco Piro are an Indigenous people who live in isolation in the forests of southeastern Peru and avoid contact with outsiders.
The study, completed in 2016, recommended enlarging the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve, established in 2002 to protect them and other Indigenous peoples living in isolation.
Indigenous leaders fear the decision could leave logging concessions operating in their ancestral territory, increasing the risk of encounters and exposure to diseases.
In 2024, encounters involving the Mashco Piro and loggers left at least two loggers dead; it is unclear whether any Mashco Piro were killed or injured.
Indigenous groups say the reserve expansion is needed to protect their survival, and Peru is also facing a human rights case over its protection of the group.
Indigenous leaders are urging the government to honor the 2016 recommendation, expand the reserve and remove overlapping logging concessions.
Peru’s government commission has decided to revisit a study recommending an expansion of a reserve for the isolated Mashco Piro people.
Indigenous leaders warn that the decision could leave more of the group’s Amazon territory exposed to logging.
They say logging concessions overlap with areas they consider essential to the Mashco Piro’s survival.
The dispute has raised fears of violent encounters and exposure to diseases to which the Mashco Piro may have little immunity.
The proposed expansion would enlarge the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve, established in 2002.
- Who
- The Mashco Piro, an Indigenous group living in isolation, and the Peruvian government commission responsible for protecting isolated Indigenous peoples.
- What
- The commission has decided to revisit a study recommending expansion of the Mashco Piro reserve.
- When
- The commission made the decision last week, according to Indigenous organizations and Survival International.
- Where
- The Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve and surrounding areas in southeastern Peru.
- Why
- Not stated
Indigenous organizations and Survival International
Peruvian government commission
Reserve expansion
Indigenous organizations and Survival International
They support proceeding with the proposed expansion to protect Mashco Piro territory.
Peruvian government commission
It decided to revisit the study recommending expansion rather than proceed with it.
Logging concessions
Indigenous organizations and Survival International
They say concessions overlap with areas essential to the Mashco Piro’s survival and should be removed.
Peruvian government commission
Not stated
Peru established the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve for the Mashco Piro and other Indigenous peoples living in isolation.
A government study recommended expanding the reserve.
Images showed dozens of Mashco Piro people near logging concessions, and violent encounters involving the Mashco Piro and loggers left at least two loggers dead.
The Forest Stewardship Council permanently withdrew certification for Maderera Canales Tahuamanu.
FENAMAD and EarthRights International brought a case against Peru before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
A government commission decided to revisit the 2016 study rather than proceed with the proposed expansion.
- Reserve established
- 2002
- Expansion study
- Government study recommended expansion in 2016
- Deaths in 2024 encounters
- At least two loggers
- Logging company
- Maderera Canales Tahuamanu
- Certification withdrawn
- Permanently in 2025
What people are saying
The lives and survival of the Mashco Piro people must not come second to economic interests
effectively put the Mashco Piro’s territory up for sale and prioritized commercial interests over Indigenous lives