Indigenous rights and development in the Urubamba, beyond Camisea

By: Agilio Semperi, president of the Machiguenga Council of the Urubamba River (COMARU)

A trend that has been maintained over the years in the Peruvian Amazon is trying to promote development focused on the implementation of extractive projects without respecting the rights of indigenous peoples, including territorial rights.

This is reflected in the promotion of gas projects such as those located in the Urubamba Basin, where after more than 17 years of sustained exploitation, the State continues to pressure the Amazon to find and exploit hydrocarbons, actions that have brought socio-environmental impacts on our territories; a null participation of indigenous peoples in their inspection processes; and insufficient actions to promote transparency.

Block 58 (adjacent to the Camisea deposit) has native communities in its area of ​​influence, as well as populations in initial contact, which is why it has been affecting our collective rights since 2005, despite adhesion by part of the State to ILO Convention 169. Well, to date, this batch led by the Chinese company CNPC continues to implement different measures that affect indigenous communities, with untimely compensation processes and without carrying out or having prior consultation on the agenda, a right recognized and regulated at the national level. .

It is often thought that the promotion of extractive and infrastructure projects is synonymous with economic growth and development. However, political and business promises are distant and contradictory to reality. Thus, the Megantoni district, which has more than four years of political creation and an annual canon income of approximately 200 million Soles, lives with poverty: 86% of its population does not have water service, nor a efficient health system, context with which he had to face the COVID-19 pandemic.

Given this, the experience of indigenous peoples allows us to conclude that the State is not prepared to promote true development in the Amazon: (i) non-compliance with environmental regulations, added to weak enforcement, has generated that companies do not respect regulations and high environmental standards are not guaranteed; (ii) the weak capacity of the governments does not allow the economic resources to be translated into an improvement in the quality of life of the inhabitants; (iii) there is a lack of understanding of the socio-environmental realities, of the living standards of the communities, and of the essence of the rights of indigenous peoples; (iv) the active participation of populations in decision-making processes is limited; and (v) a misconception of sustainable development is maintained.

The promotion of extractive projects in the Amazon, generated by a development concept without a real vision of the territory, adds to the context of the Urubamba basin the promotion of projects such as the Megantoni – Sepahua highway and the interconnection between the districts of Megantoni and Echarati, the latter has already been declared as a project of national interest and public need by the Congress of the Republic, without a socio-environmental evaluation in its planning or a consultation process of the affected peoples, which could translate into a driver of deforestation, drug trafficking, invasion of territories, considering the experiences suffered with the Kepashiato-Kimbiri highway. As well as risks for the Machiguenga Communal Reserve and the Megantoni National Sanctuary.

The challenges are great and for this it is vital to rebuild development planning, incorporating its own vision and considering social and environmental conditions; For this, it is essential to first strengthen participation in all decision-making processes from the planning of policies, plans and projects; evaluation and inspection and implement prior consultation processes, recognizing its true essence, respecting standards and cultural identity.

[Publirreportaje]