Illegal logging in Alto Purus (photo:Chris Fagan)
Tired of the abuses and irrational exploitation of forest resources that have occurred inside territories of the native communities of Purús by loggers that work in the area, the Federation of Native Communities of Purús (FECONAPU) directly denounced the government official in charge of the supervision and monitoring of the forest activities in this region.
On March 1, FECONAPU sent a letter to the head of the Technical Administration of Forest Control and Wildlife, complaining about the illegal extraction of wood that has occurred in parts of Purús anddenouncing the official in charge for inefficiency in his functions and complicity in dealing with illegal loggers. A copy of the complaint went to the provincial fiscal authority, two regional courts, the national police in Purús, an army military unit for rural townships, the provincial municipal authority, and various other government offices, as well as the National Institute of Natural Resources (INRENA), the Project of Indigenous Participation in Natural Protected Areas Management in the Peruvian Amazon (PIMA), and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). This letter was sent to such an extensive and varied list of organizations with the intention of involving the authorities and other sectors so that this complaint doesn\’t pass unnoticed–which is what typically happens when the locals protest–and to force them to use effective measures to solve this problem.
This measure has caused much controversy in the region: on one hand, loggers are extremely upset, but on the other, native people are afraid of the loggers\’ reactions. In spite of this, the authorities involved are determined to do whatever it takes so that, once and for all, this situation, which has been harmful to the native communities for several years, is resolved.
Below is an extracted portion of the denouncement in question:
1) In the past two weeks three complaints have been sent to your office concerning the illegal logging occurring in different indigenous communities of Purús. To date you have not acted, nor has our office received noticed of any plans for coordinated action regarding this complaint.
2) On February 28, several loggers arrived from Qeubrada La Novia going in the direction of Puerto Esperanza, transporting STOLEN wood to the communities who are issuing complaints, thereby confirming the ECOLOGICAL CRIME which has been denounced.
3) We are very concerned that, according to information provided by the loggers themselves, far from complying with your administrative and control duties, you have recommended to the illegal loggers that they remove the felled wood as soon as possible, so as to erase traces that a felony has been committed.
4) The fact alone that, to date, you have not attended to the complaints of these communities creates many doubts as to your actions, and calls into question your honorability as a government employees
5) Consequently, for the credibility of, and confidence in, the authorities and representatives of the Peruvian State in our province, we ask you for a demarcation, not only with words but with concrete actions, because it is KNOWN by the entire population of Purús that logging activity in the province (except in three communities) is completely illegal, adding to the continuation of abuses and cheating that our indigenous people endure when they fall into the clutches of the illegal loggers.
Signed:
Jaime Del Águila Meléndez President of FECONAPU
Manuel Capitán Retauza Treasurer of FECONAPU
Walter Canayo Etene District Attorney of FECONAPU
ParksWatch-Peru, March 2005