Isolated peoples and forests in the Kakataibo Extremo Norte area of the Peruvian Amazon are under threat from illegal loggers, drug traffickers, the construction of illegal roads, and multiple forestry concessions.Indigenous leaders and organizations have sought formal recognition for the area as an Indigenous reserve since 2021, but the Ministry of Culture rejected the application in 2023 because it relates to isolated Kakataibo people who are already recognized by the Peruvian state and receive protections in a nearby reserve.Sources told Mongabay that threats to the area’s isolated groups are increasing, exposing them to significant risk due to their extreme vulnerability.
An unprotected area in Peru’s Amazon, where Indigenous people live in voluntary isolation, sits in a growing sea of forestry concessions, illegal roads, illegal loggers and drug traffickers, according to maps and confidential reports seen by Mongabay. Indigenous leaders and national organizations are calling the area Kakataibo Extremo Norte, or Kakataibo Extreme North.
Julio Cusurichi, a Shipibo-Conibo leader and president of the Indigenous Federation of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries (FENAMAD), told Mongabay that the forests and isolated people in this area face serious threats. “There are loggers there, there are illicit activities,” he said in an interview. “It is a very worrying issue. The fact that these illegal activities are linked to roads is particularly concerning.”
