Map: Pequeño Libro de Historia Machiguenga. S Kapila.1998
Gas from Camisea and indigenous territory
Native Amazonian communities have always had to deal with cultural influences from outside groups who come into their territories: the rubber tapers, missionaries, and immigrant Andean farmers. The forest has been frequently viewed as a place that provides natural resources and the place of native communities. The indigenous life style has been significantly changed and its community organizational structure weakened. The State has not given these groups the attention they deserve and as a result, the indigenous populations\’ rights have been violated. This is true in the case of the Machiguenga community, habitants of the Urubamba River, its tributaries, and the upper parts of Manu and Madre de Dios Rivers.
In 1988, the State began to show interest in the native communities of the lower Urubamba River because this is when Shell Prospecting & Development arrived in the zone. Shell discovered natural gas deposits in \”Camisea\” and once they began mining it, the socio-economic dynamics of the community changed. Children born to indigenous mothers and non-native fathers working for the company became known as \”los hijos de al Shell\” or \”Shell\’s children.\” Cultural problems such as this came to the attention of non-governmental organizations that then began pressuring the government to do something about indigenous\’ rights.
In the early 1990s, a NGO called the Center for Amazonian Indigenous Development (CEDIA) and the Peruvian Ministry of Agriculture signed a property rights agreement that aimed to protect native communities by demarcating their traditional territories. Out of this agreement came the proposal to create the Machiguenga Megantoni National Sanctuary, in the central part of the Urubamba watershed (the eastern portion) in Echarate District, La Convención de Cuzco Province. Two technical reports have been submitted to INRENA, one in 1991 and one in 1999, yet the sanctuary has not been declared and the proposal remains. Authorities argue that there is not enough information on the region\’s biodiversity to move forward with the proposal. In 1996, CEDIA did manage to post signs in strategic points throughout the area indicating that it was in the process of being declared a sanctuary (1).
As of 2000, the State\’s interest in the zone and indigenous\’ rights has resurfaced because the company Pluspetrol began working in the buffer zone of the proposed protected area. The company is extracting the remaining gas from the same depository Shell mined in the late 80s. Nearby communities have witnessed increased economic activity in Camisea and have begun colonizing the native communal lands of the Machiguenga. The Special Land Titling Project (PETT), an official governmental entity, is titling land in the area. As a result, colonists have been able to claim land that is actually part of another protected area: Communal Reserve Pavlik Nikitine and Mtalatatakine. The process of titling the land has been unorganized and haphazard; there is no oversight, supervision, or participation from non-governmental organizations.
Such chaos had resulted in individuals and groups being able to take advantage of the titling process. Clandestine colonizing groups have formed in Quillabamba. One example is the Association of Lower Urubamba Colonizers, who sends land prospectors to the Camisea and Porocari zones to locate strategic commercial lands. The CEDIA has begun discussions with PETT to conduct a census in the zone so that the colonizers will have to respect the existing land titles instead of claiming the lands for themselves.
Attempt against biodiversity in lower Urubamba
Pluspetrol is building a gas pipeline from Camisea through the native communities of Ticumpina, Timpia, Camana, Cashiari and the Communal Reserve Pavlik Nikitine and Mtalatatakine. In Camana, the indigenous inhabitants are losing their principal food source: fish from the Parotori River. According to CEDIA, because of the company\’s activities, the waters of Parotori River have become contaminated and turbid and the fish are dying off. Fishing is the main economic activity for the people of Camana and it is diminishing.
Agricultural Engineer, Ricardo Risco, in charge of coordinating CEDIA\’s lower Urubamba projects says that the process for preparing the land for burying the pipeline have left open trenches for more than a year. He goes on to explain that soil erosion and even land slides have occurred and are increasing in and along these trenches, especially on sloped lands. He says that the pipeline is passing through very delicate ecosystems and the area will be practically impossible to restore to its original state-land excavated 5 meters to the bedrock is not easy to replace. The affected ecosystems of the lower Urubama, include tropical rainforest, humid forests, and subtropical rainforest of Cuzco.
The role of the IDB
The InterAmerican Development Bank (IDB) is the principal financial supporter of the Camisea Project. Pluspetrol and the State are expected to meet certain criteria and conditions in exchange for the loan. While this is encouraging, conversations between IBD, Pluspetrol and the central government have occurred behind closed doors and are not public. Oversight organizations, such as CEDIA, who have interest in this national project, have not been included in the process. IDB, in response to public demand and public criticism of Pluspetrol\’s actions, has decided to conduct a public workshop on Camisea project on December 5, 6 of 2003. The goals of this workshop, to be held in Pisco, are: 1) evaluate the proposed plan for enforcing new access rights; 2) discuss the situation of the native communities affected by the project; 3) evaluate biodiversity in damaged zones.
Two separate worlds
Antonio Iviche Quique, President of the Peruvian Forest Interethnic Development Association (AIDESEP), explains the divergent points of view of the indigenous people and the companies relating to land, \”For the market, the land has monetary value and is negotiable. For us, the indigenous, the land has spiritual importance and it is sacred. In our Amazonian cosmovision, we do not have the word \”land\” but we do have the word \”territory,\” which is part of a larger concept integrating our collective well-being and nature. We have inherited the mountains and waterfalls where our ancestors meditated. These are sacred places we respect and from where we gain vision and spiritual strength.\” How is it possible to teach the indigenous people that their lifestyle, with roots thousands of years old, will never be the same because of international economic interests? An even more difficult question may be, how is it possible to integrate in the same territory people who have opposing ways for viewing and dealing with nature? On one hand, the indigenous communities feel as though they are the children of the earth, while on the other hand, the Pluspetrol businessmen feel as though they are the earth\’s owners. It is obvious that there is not room for both and the ones being hurt the most are the ones who understand the least of what is happening in their own world.
ParksWatch-Perú: November, 2003
By: Inés Vera
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Notes
1 From the Technical report for establishing the Machiguenga Megantoni National Sanctuary: Expediente Técnico para el Establecimiento del Santuario Nacional Machiguenga Megantoni, Dirección Regional Agraria del Cuzco y CEDIA. 1999