Hope Rekindled! A Community in Initial Contact is Preparing to be Titled
May 2023 Update: Communal Territory Demarcation Fieldwork Completed: Alto Esperanza can advance the titling process of its ancestral territory! Learn more here.
September 2022: Upper Amazon Conservancy – UAC has been supporting the titling process of the Amahuaca Indigenous group in Alto Esperanza. The community is considered an Indigenous people in initial contact, and it will become the first community in this situation ever to hold a land title in the history of Peru. It is located in the headwater of the Inuya river, a tributary of the Urubamba river in the Department of Ucayali. Alto Esperanza borders the Alto Purús National Park and the Indigenous Reserves of Murunahua and Mashco Piro, one of the most important areas for peoples in voluntary isolation in the whole Amazon.
The community of Alto Esperanza holds no title of their ancestral lands, an area threatened by invasions of illegal loggers, land traffickers, migrant farmers, and drug dealers.
The titling process of Alto Esperanza has been a complicated process due to the presence of invaders and land traffickers who arrived a few years ago and are now illegally occupying the area. Another complication is the superposition of forestry concessions in Alto Esperanza, some of which have been illegally approved by the Government during the pandemic, when the Governement had supposedly stopped its activities.
At the beginning of the year, we signed agreements with Alto Esperanza and the Indigenous Federation of Alto Río Inuya and Mapuya – FIARIM, representing the community, in order to defend the rights of the community and resume the titling process, which was stalled in 2016—the same year when they got the resolution of formal recognition in the Regional Burueau of Agriculture of Ucayali – DRAU. Despite this recognition, there is a group of farmers in the central forest in Peru who are requesting rights over the territories which are part of the Alto Esperanza territorial proposal.
In the last few months, UAC has taken part in several coordination meetings with many state agencies with a role in the titling process. In August, we held a coordination meeting in Lima, organized by the Ministry of Culture – MINCUL, with the Executor Unit for Managing Sectorial Projects – UEGPS, the entity in charge of the Cadastre, Titling and Land Registration Project of Rural Lands in Peru (PTRT3) to inform on the achievements and to share our technical information from the field.
In September, at the DRAU auditorium, the ceremony called “Official Relaunch of the PTRT3 Project” was held with the financial support of UAC, where they announced their intention to resume their plans and objectives. The different state-owned, private, and Indigenous institutions and organizations from the Ucayali región were invited.
At this event, the representatives from the UEGPS, the Regional Government, the Regional Indigenous Organization Aidesep Ucayali – ORAU and the Vice-Ministry of Interculturality of the MINCUL announced and guaranteed their support for the titling of Alto Esperanza. This was an historical success in the institutional commitment of each of the sectors involved in the process. It is worth noting the commitment and follow-up from the Authority of the Alto Purús National Park – SERNANP in favor of titling Alto Esperanza, which is located in its buffer zone.
UAC has been supporting this process, facilitating the joint work among the various sectors of the Government. We are committed with the defense of the rights of Indigenous peoples such as Alto Esperanza. Thanks to our donors for helping us becoming part of this great movement!
The Inuya River is of great importance for the conservation of biodiversity and the protection of indigenous peoples in isolation and initial contact.
