“The FSC should cease endorsing the systematic violation of Indigenous individuals’s rights”
Three key Amazonian Indigenous organizations have issued an unprecedented joint assertion, accusing the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) of intentionally delaying a call on whether or not to withdraw certification from a infamous logging firm on uncontacted peoples’ land within the Peruvian Amazon. They’ve threatened to boycott additional “pointless” negotiations with the FSC in regards to the case.
The corporate, Canales Tahuamanu, has already bulldozed greater than 120 miles of logging tracks deep into the territory of the uncontacted Mashco Piro individuals, whose photos have been broadcast world wide two weeks in the past.
Canales Tahuamanu and the FSC have recognized for no less than eight years that the Mashco Piro stay within the space of its concession – but the corporate’s timber is licensed as moral by the FSC. Below Peruvian and worldwide regulation, the Mashco Piro forest needs to be protected.
The organizations – FENAMAD, a regional group representing the Indigenous communities within the province the place the now-famous photographs have been taken; AIDESEP, the nationwide Amazon Indigenous group of Peru; and COICA, an alliance of Indigenous organizations throughout all Amazonian nations – accuse the FSC of “endorsing the systematic violation of Indigenous individuals’s rights” and say, “[We] need motion, not phrases!”
In addition they say “Respect for Indigenous rights – particularly these of uncontacted peoples – is clearly not an FSC precedence.”
The Mashco Piro photos launched by Survival proved that greater than 100 uncontacted individuals stay in an space with a number of logging concessions, together with one licensed by the FSC. Worldwide publication of the photographs put the FSC underneath huge strain to justify its persevering with certification, notably because it has recognized for a few years of the Mashco Piro’s presence, and Indigenous organizations had requested it take motion 4 years in the past..
The FSC issued a press release in July defending its refusal to droop Canales Tahuamanu’s certification, and easily promising additional “investigations.” The Indigenous organizations countered, noting that the FSC had already performed two earlier ‘evaluations’ in 2022 and 2023, and continued to certify the timber taken from the Mashco Piro land.
Survival Worldwide issued its personal response to the FSC assertion, saying: “The FSC’s response to the Mashco Piro disaster fails to deal with the details raised over a number of years – logging may show deadly to the uncontacted tribe and the destruction of their forest house is a violation of their human rights and worldwide conventions.”
Fiona Watson, Analysis and Advocacy Director of Survival Worldwide, mentioned the Indigenous assertion ought to improve strain on the FSC to finish certification of wooden from Mashco Piro territory. “The FSC is hiding behind yet one more so-called investigation. It’s doing precisely what it’s achieved earlier than – stalling for time, to permit the destruction of the Mashco Piro’s forest to proceed. The logging should finish now – or the results for the Mashco Piro will likely be dire.”
