UN Questions Peruvian State Over Violations of Indigenous Rights in Cordillera Azul National Park and REDD+ Project

On 28 April 2023, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) sent a formal communication to the Peruvian State, in the framework of its early warning and urgent action procedure, regarding impacts on the human rights and territories of the Kichwa people and other Indigenous peoples by the Cordillera Azul National Park (PNCAZ) and its REDD+ Project, known internationally for selling tens of millions of carbon credits to large companies without consulting the Kichwa communities in whose territories they are developed. 

The CERD's letter comes in response to a formal petition submitted by Kichwa organisations ahead of its 107th session, which took place in August 2022 in Geneva. It was submitted by the Ethnic Council of the Kichwa Peoples of the Amazon (CEPKA), the Federation of Indigenous Kichwa Chazuta Amazonian Peoples (FEPIKECHA) and the Federation of Indigenous Kichwa Peoples of Bajo Huallaga San Martin of the San Martin Region (FEPIKBHSAM), together with the Coordinator for the Development and Defence of Indigenous Peoples of the San Martin Region (CODEPISAM). In it, they asked the CERD to take action to urge the Peruvian State to take immediate action against the exclusionary conservation project that is being carried out in the PNCAZ with no regard for the rights of the Kichwa people.

Download CERD's letter to the Peruvian State in Spanish

CERD highlights how the PNCAZ was created in 2001 without obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of the affected Indigenous peoples, while the slow process of State recognition of Indigenous communities as "native communities" has resulted in the lack of legal protection of their territories and natural resources. The letter also details the restrictions on use and access imposed by the PNCAZ on Indigenous peoples and the negative impacts this has had on their livelihoods, food security and the transmission of their traditional ecological knowledge.

CERD also recalls the lack of consultation for the implementation of the Cordillera Azul REDD+ Project in 2008, as well as the lack of information and transparency in its management by the conservation NGO, the Centre for Conservation, Research and Management of Natural Areas (Centro de Conservación, Investigación y Manejo de Áreas Naturales - CIMA). This has also been reflected in a lack of participation of Indigenous communities in the management of the Park and the REDD+ Project.

CERD also highlights cases of intimidation, threats and attacks against human rights defenders of the Kichwa people. It should be recalled that in March 2022, FEPIKECHA, the Kichwa Native Community of Anak Kurutuyacu, the Kichwa Native Community of Santa Rosillo de Yanayacu, Forest Peoples Programme (FPP) and the Instituto de Defensa Legal (IDL) submitted a request for urgent action to CERD in the face of an increase in acts of structural discrimination by the Peruvian State, with a lack of progress in the titling processes prolonging the lack of protection of Kichwa collective territories, which has resulted in intimidation, threats and attacks against Kichwa defenders and impunity for deforestation and destruction of untitled Kichwa territories.

In view of this situation, CERD requests the Peruvian State to provide information by 21 July 2023 on:

(a) The measures taken to assess the social and environmental impact of the establishment of the Cordillera Azul National Park and the REDD+ Project mentioned above on the affected communities of the Kichwa and Kakataibo indigenous peoples;

b) The concrete measures adopted to protect the physical and cultural survival of the Kakataibo people who are in voluntary isolation;

c) The mechanisms implemented to ensure that the Indigenous peoples whose territories and natural resources have been or may be affected by the creation of the Park and the implementation of the REDD+ project are duly consulted with a view to obtaining free, prior and informed consent;

(d) Specific measures taken to protect traditional ways of life and subsistence, as well as the ancestral and cultural value of the Indigenous territories affected by the Cordillera Azul National Park;

e) The measures adopted to guarantee the effective participation of the affected Indigenous peoples in the management and implementation of the REDD+ project and to define their participation in the benefits obtained from it;

f) Measures to prevent and investigate acts of harassment, intimidation, reprisals and violence against leaders and defenders of the rights of the Kichwa Indigenous peoples.

This CERD communication comes just two weeks after the notification of a landmark ruling by the Juzgado Mixto de Bellavista of the Superior Court of Justice of San Martin in favour of the Puerto Franco community of the Kichwa people, ordering the titling of their ancestral territory, most of which overlaps with the PNCAZ. In addition, it recognised for the first time in Peru the communities' right to the benefits that conservation activities generate, such as the sale of carbon credits through the Park's REDD+ Project.

Although the first instance ruling may be challenged by the defendants, including CIMA and SERNANP, we consider that it sets a positive precedent in the struggle for the recognition of the territorial rights of the Kichwa communities, validating a conservation model that respects human rights.

 

"For me as a leader of the native communities of Bajo Huallaga, it is welcome news to know that the United Nations is giving us just and necessary attention to admonish and call to attention the Park managers, who have abused and discriminated against the Kichwa communities of Bajo Huallaga. I believe that this is a totally correct communication that protects and covers us, above all in defending the human rights of our communities. It is a pleasure to hear this news. This is not an overnight result, but part of the articulated work. Some progress is being made. The Peruvian State violates the human rights of our communities in all aspects of health, education and territory. It is good that the Committee is taking care of this, because the PNCAZ was created violating rights (...)" said Samuel Pinedo, president of FEPIKBHSAM.

"In terms of discrimination and exclusion of Indigenous peoples in the carbon market, this government's extractivism is promoting climate change by pushing us to the point of no return and driving us out of our territories. There has been an increase in global private initiatives to reduce emissions, but they are false solutions. They are not concrete. There is no standard that can say: "the carbon market is standardised and these are the standards". Climate finance continues to be designed and promoted without the participation of us Indigenous peoples. The benefits are minimal for our peoples and most of it stays with the State and NGOs (...) The bad practices of capitalism continue and must be broken. The current carbon market model presents risks for Indigenous peoples because of the lack of understanding of the contracts, the lack of conditions for fair negotiation and having end buyers who pollute the planet. It's a worrying thing. We don't know who they sell it to. Some capitalists who pollute in one part of the world cannot come and wash their hands saying that they are contributing to climate change mitigation by buying carbon for activities done by the community. It is worrying that the Peruvian State says nothing about carbon pirates. From AIDESEP we have developed REDD+ Amazon Indigenous REDD+ (RIA), which redefines REDD+ with the Indigenous cosmovision, our full life plans, territorial security, holistic integrated forest management (...) We continue to propose direct financing for Indigenous peoples, not the resale of carbon credits, and that national and international standards regulate the carbon market, and the creation of independent complaint mechanisms for protected natural areas in our territory. We the peoples have not superimposed ourselves on the Peruvian State and the world! It is they who have occupied our ancestral territories that we have taken care of and are part of. And so, we also ask that the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples should call for articulated work with Indigenous peoples for recommendations to States on the regulation of the carbon market (...) No more exclusion, no more systematic discrimination against Indigenous peoples. This must stop. As CODEPISAM we continue to work together with the peoples", said Wilfredo Tsamash, Pamuk of CODEPISAM.

"The State does not take the communities into account, nor does it respect Indigenous peoples. They only try to make some little things visible in terms of intercultural advances, but for the State we do not exist in the forest or in the territory. We hope that the State, as a result of this communication from the United Nations, will consider our territorial claims as Kichwa people and our full participation in the conservation plans and the care of the ecosystem and the forests," said Nelsith Sangama, national leader of AIDESEP.

"The President of Peru lacks legitimacy and has caused the death of more than 60 people. And that does not include those killed for defending the Peruvian Amazon and its ancestral territories so that future generations will have a place to live and share with respect for the deities that exist. The mechanisms for defenders do not work. I stress that the murders continue and the last Indigenous leader was Santiago Contoricón of the Asháninka nation", added the pamuk Wilfredo Tsamash, on the situation of harassment of indigenous Kichwa leaders and leaders in general in the Peruvian Amazon.

"The resistance of the Kichwa people is stronger today than ever before. Our history is one of persistence and perseverance. After historically demanding our human and territorial rights, today we can see that our longstanding advocacy is beginning to bear fruit. The fact that our voices are being heard by the United Nations is a symbol of strength for us and encourages us to continue standing up in our struggle to have our territories returned to us. We live in a space inherited from our ancestors, but the Peruvian State has taken it upon itself to strip us of our living spaces. We are being excluded from our territories in order for false climate solutions, to create protected areas without our consent, to greenwash the image of transnational companies that are dedicated to destroying our environment. We raise our voices in rejection of these false climate solutions and we will not rest until our territorial rights are recovered and we inherit a healthy territory for our future generation. Today, more than ever, we are stronger and we will not stop until we achieve our titling and we will not allow the State to continue to violate our rights and turn a deaf ear to our demands. We reject this situation to which our rulers have exposed us because of an ambition that has no limits. Environmental defenders continue to be threatened, but even so we continue to face a State that ignores the rights of Indigenous peoples and does not respect international conventions. The case of the Park is a clear example of protected areas that exclude Indigenous peoples, of an administration and management that does not consider Indigenous peoples and their traditional possessions. The fact that today our voice is being heard in international spaces and that we have very important support means that we are beginning to see a point of hope and that I know and have faith that we will harvest other fruits. We will not rest until our children inherit secure legal tenure over their territory and therefore, food security and sovereignty!" Marisol García, president of FEPIKECHA.