Violations of Indigenous rights in Cordillera Azul National Park REDD project: UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination writes to Peruvian State

CERD’s letter highlights failures to address Indigenous rights, and asks a series of questions about how the State proposes to protect Indigenous rights in future.

On 28 April 2023, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) sent a formal letter to the Peruvian State about the impact of the Cordillera Azul National Park on the rights and territories of the Kichwa people and other Indigenous peoples.

The Cordillera Azul National Park is also a REDD project that has generated more than 30 million carbon credits. 87% of the credits went to Shell and TotalEnergies, two of the biggest polluting oil companies on the planet.

CERD’s letter states that, “According to the information received, the Cordillera Azul National Park was created in 2001 without an adequate prior consultation process being carried out with a view to obtaining the free, prior and informed consent of the affected Indigenous peoples.”

In August 2022, organisations of the Kichwa people and human rights organisations submitted a formal petition to CERD requesting urgent action to stop exclusionary conservation by the Cordillera Azul National Park.

The formal petition was presented by the Ethnic Council of the Kichwa Peoples of the Amazon (CEPKA), the Federation of Kechwa Chazuta Amazon Indigenous Peoples (FEPIKECHA) and the Federation of Kichwa Indigenous Peoples of Bajo Huallaga San Martín of the San Martín Region (FEPIKBHSAM), and the Coordinator for the Development and Defense of the Indigenous Peoples of the San Martín Region (CODEPISAM).

The submitting organisations requested that CERD “consider the escalating threats posed by the imposition of a protected area and carbon trading project over Kichwa territories under its early warning and urgent action procedure” at its 107th session, that took place in Geneva in August 2022.

CERD’s letter points out that “The establishment of the Park has imposed restrictions on the use and access of the Kichwa communities to their traditionally occupied territories.”

The Kichwa require permits to enter the protected area, and traditional activities are restricted such as hunting, fishing, gathering food and medicinal plants.

CERD’s letter notes the lack of consultation before the start of the Cordillera Azul REDD+ Project in 2008. It also notes the lack of information and transparency in the management of the national park, which is carried out by the conservation NGO, the Centre for Conservation, Research and Management of Natural Areas (Centro de Conservación, Investigación y Manejo de Áreas Naturales - CIMA).

Commenting on the CERD letter, in a statement on Forest Peoples Programme’s website, Samuel Pinedo, president of FEPIKBHSAM said,

“For me as a leader of the native communities of Bajo Huallaga, it is welcome news to know that the United Nations is giving us just and necessary attention to admonish and call to attention the Park managers, who have abused and discriminated against the Kichwa communities of Bajo Huallaga. I believe that this is a totally correct communication that protects and covers us, above all in defending the human rights of our communities. It is a pleasure to hear this news. This is not an overnight result, but part of the articulated work. Some progress is being made. The Peruvian State violates the human rights of our communities in all aspects of health, education and territory. It is good that the Committee is taking care of this, because the PNCAZ was created violating rights.”

Last month the Kichwa community won an important legal victory when the Mixed Court of Bellavista of the Superior Court of Justice of San Martin ordered the Regional Government of San Martín to start a titling process of the territory traditionally used and occupied by the Puerto Franco Kichwa community.

CERD is requesting the Peruvian State to provide information by 21 July 2023 on the following:

• The measures taken to assess the social and environmental impact of the establishment of the Cordillera Azul National Park and the REDD+ Project mentioned above on the affected communities of the Kichwa and Kakataibo indigenous peoples;

• The concrete measures adopted to protect the physical and cultural survival of the Kakataibo people who are in voluntary isolation;

• The mechanisms implemented to ensure that the Indigenous peoples whose territories and natural resources have been or may be affected by the creation of the Park and the implementation of the REDD+ project are duly consulted with a view to obtaining free, prior and informed consent;

• Specific measures taken to protect traditional ways of life and subsistence, as well as the ancestral and cultural value of the Indigenous territories affected by the Cordillera Azul National Park;

• The measures adopted to guarantee the effective participation of the affected Indigenous peoples in the management and implementation of the REDD+ project and to define their participation in the benefits obtained from it;

• Measures to prevent and investigate acts of harassment, intimidation, reprisals and violence against leaders and defenders of the rights of the Kichwa Indigenous peoples.

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