The NGO Survival International has denounced the planned expansion of Peruvian gas company Camisea consortium into protected tribal Amazonian land.
The encroachment on the reserves in the Nahua-Nanti region, in Southeastern Peru, is a violation of international law and puts the lives of the indigenous population at risk.
In a statement issued in London, the NGO which defends the rights of indigenous communities, said that the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines has given the green light for the expansion of the Camisea gas project, reportedly the largest gas reserves in the country.
Camisea consortium is owned by Argentine company Pluspetrol.
In a press report, Survival International indicated that the Peruvian authorities have taken further expansion measures, allowing state-owned company Petroperú to explore gas reserves in the Fitzcarrald lot, next to the Camisea field.
According to Survival International, if the project goes ahead as planned, “its location will cut the Nahua-Nanti Reserve in half, and put uncontacted tribes’ lives in immediate danger.”
Survival International’s director Stephen Correy stated today that “these steps not only jeopardize the future of uncontacted and contacted tribes in the reserve, but also go entirely against the law.”
Correy added that previous gas exploration projects in the region has “decimated Indian tribes, so it’s astonishing that the government is prepared to contemplate history repeating itself, and doesn’t appear to care what the consequences are.”
More than 70% of the Peruvian amazon has been leased by the government to oil and gas consortiums. A large percentage of that area is inhabited by endangered tribes.
