Following the COP20 conference. A senior official Gustavo Suarez de Freitas of MINAM, Perus environment ministry stated that 145000 hectares of Amazonian forest had been cleared this year - a sharp increase on the average per year and largely attributed to agriculture. According to one graph, the Loreto region where we conduct our annual biodiversity monitoring surveys is being hit particularly hard by deforestation practices. Luckily there have been measures in place to protect certain areas such as the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve where we focus our efforts; but even we have found evidence of deforestation levels beyond that of the legal and sustainable practices of the local indigenous communities. The lack of a solid rock foundation within the Pacaya Samiria Reserve and the sheer mass of water flowing through the rio Ucayali and the rio Marañon means that the landscape is in a dynamic fluid state. The communities often have to move locations every few years in order to remain near the river or avoid finding their villages right in the middle of it! As a result, they build their houses out of local timber from the hardwood trees, impressively within a matter of 20 days or so. These practices are traditional and have been passed down from generation to generation. But not every indigenous community has recognised rights to their own land. They are often caught in battles of conflict against large logging and agriculture companies even when they do have rights. So much so that even protected areas such as national reserves may soon come under threat in future years according to recent studies. More can be found in these articles: news.mongabay/2014/1203-peru-deforestation.html#sthash.bprMvB3s.dpuf news.mongabay/2014/1202-gfrn-morgan-indigenous-lands-store-carbon.html#sthash.RTnVkha8.dpbs globalforestwatch.org/country/PER
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 11:00:01 +0000
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