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Peruvian Government Commits to Expel Illegal Loggers Who Pose Threat to Uncontacted Indigenous Tribes in the Amazon.

Lima, Peru - The Peruvian Government announced on Friday that it will begin to forcibly remove illegal loggers from rainforests inhabited by three uncontacted indigenous tribes in the Amazonian department of Madre de Dios. On December 7 and 8, the Government broadcasted warnings on local TV and radio stations urging illegal loggers in the provinces of Tahuamanu and Tambopata to immediately leave the area of the uncontacted peoples or face expulsion.

An estimated 3,000 to 6,000 loggers have illegally invaded the area and are threatening the lives of the vulnerable nomadic tribes known as the Mascho-Piro, Amahuaca, and Nahua. Violent confrontations with loggers have increased dramatically in the last three months. Five Indians were reportedly killed last week from gunshot wounds. Contact with the tribes is also increasing the risk of deadly epidemics that have devastated other isolated Amazonian tribes.

"While we are encouraged by the Government's commitment to remove illegal loggers from the area, we are concerned that the Government urgently needs additional resources to effectively expel intruders and to permanently guard the territories of the uncontacted peoples", said Betsy Marsh of the Amazon Alliance, a coalition of Amazonian indigenous and traditional peoples and environmental and human rights organizations based in Washington, D.C.

The isolated tribes reside in the largest remaining stands of mahogany in Peru. Most illegal loggers who have invaded the uncontacted tribal lands reportedly extract mahogany for three large timber companies, including the U.S. based Newman Lumber.

Unlike the large timber companies, local small scale logging associations are respectful of the uncontacted tribes. Over the weekend, the region's indigenous organization, the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries (FENAMAD) met with local small scale logging associations in order to strengthen a historic accord whereby these associations agreed to respect the territories of the isolated indigenous groups. The agreement also commits the small timber producers to develop sustainable forest management plans for more responsible extraction outside the uncontacted tribes' lands.

The Ministers of Agriculture and Interior have publicly supported this agreement but approval of regulations necessary to grant concessions to the small scale logging associations is being stalled.

FENAMAD has fought vigorously to protect the uncontacted peoples since 1996. As a result of their efforts, the Government designated a temporary area to protect the isolated tribes. On October 3, the Ministry of Agriculture ordered the agency to begin delineating the area in order to establish a permanent territorial reserve in favor of the uncontacted peoples.

However, the process is advancing slowly and each day illegal loggers move farther into the tribes' lands in an apparent effort to extract as much mahogany as possible before the permanent reserve is established and before the Government secures the area.

Meanwhile, large scale logging companies in Peru are lobbying fiercely in Lima to pass a new forest law that would favor industrial logging concessions in a nearly 5 million acre area recently declared as a forest production zone and which borders the lands of the uncontacted tribes. The legislation as proposed favors large scale logging interests over the small-scale timber producers.

Contact: David Rothschild, Amazon Alliance, 202-785-3334.