Peru’s Less-Than-Benign Environmental Policy

[Judi Lynn]

Peru’s Less-Than-Benign Environmental Policy
Sunday 17 April 2011
by: Michael Reaney, Council on Hemispheric Affairs

The enormous segment of Amazonian rainforest that covers over half of the country has always been an issue of contention for Peru due to the number of indigenous tribes that inhabit it. As early as the 16th century, the Peruvian Amazon has been linked to the world market, providing such products as timber, rubber, and quinine to an increasing global market. Ever since the region first became an attractive venue for resource extraction, the government’s economic ambitions have wantonly grown in spite of the ecological importance of preserving the Amazonian rainforest for Peru, its neighbors, and the international community.

The Peruvian segment of the Amazon is the setting for a wide variety of rare plant and animal species. The Peruvian rainforest is home to 25,000 species of plants, totaling ten percent of the world’s inventory. Peru boasts the world’s second largest population of birds and is among the top five countries for providing a habitat for thousands of mammals and reptiles. Of Peru’s 2,937 known species of amphibians, birds, mammals, and reptiles, 16 percent are endemic to the region and every year scientists are discovering new species. In 2010, scientists found a new species of leech and a new type of mosquito.1Sadly, most of these discoveries depend upon, mining, logging and oil companies that have been granted exploratory rights to Amazonian lands.

Peru’s Ministry of the Environment boasts that 15 percent of Peruvian territory is under a protected status, “…and we’re aiming for 30 percent,” said Environment Minister Antonio Brack.2 However, such statements fail to acknowledge the prodigious amounts of ongoing illegal extraction that is occurring in these allegedly government-protected areas. These government-labeled ‘protected areas’ are actually nothing more than forest regions without any special oversight by Peruvian officials.3 Furthermore, information regarding illegal extraction is provided mainly by the indigenous people, not by trained government authorities with professional responsibilities.

Development

Former President Alejandro Toledo’s administration (2001-2006), to a shocking degree, granted large energy concessions often in ecologically sensitive areas. Current President Alan García was not hesitant to pick up where Toledo left off. Presently, oil and gas settlements cover 41 percent of the Peruvian Amazon.4

More:
http://truthout.org/peru%E2%80%99s-less-benign-environmental-policy/1302246000