Several palm oil and cacao companies operating in the Peruvian Amazon have systematically contributed to clearing at least 13,000 hectares (32,000 acres) between 2012 and 2021 in the country’s most forest-rich regions of Loreto and Ucayali, shows a new report by the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA). The investigation “Carving up the Amazon” claims that deforestation happened with impunity under the eyes of the Peruvian state, which has put forests at risk through irregular titling practices and by allowing companies to continue their practices despite obvious legal infringements. Almost 100% of deforestation in Ucayali and Loreto between 2012 and 2018 had no legal permits, which is part of a larger trend in which 2.7 million hectares (6.7 million acres) of forest have been cleared in Peru over the last two decades, the EIA stresses. The EIA identifies six cases of illegal land titling, three cases of unauthorized deforestation and two cases of violating the rights of Indigenous and local communities. The report also details how Peru’s flawed legal framework for assigning land use and poor monitoring have given companies the chance to buy vast tracts of the Amazon and illegally clear forests. Location of the areas EIA investigated. Image courtesy of Environmental Investigation Agency US. “There are so many failures by a whole range of different state institutions, national and regional, and that shows a kind of dysfunction,” Chris Moye, EIA Latin America program manager and co-author for the report, told Mongabay. “We’ve got cases that have been ongoing for a…This article was originally published on Mongabay
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