Work begins on Demarcating the Communal Territory for the Land Title of the Alto Esperanza Native Community on the Inuya River
We are pleased to announce that yesterday, April 12, we began a critical phase in the land titling process for the Alto Esperanza Native Community on the Inuya River. This phase includes the demarcation, georeferencing, and installation of boundary markers that define the community's territory. The work is being led by the Regional Directorate of Agriculture of Ucayali (DRAU), with participation from representatives of the Ministry of Culture (MINCUL), the Indigenous Federation of the Upper Inuya River – Mapuya (FIARIM), and the National Service of Natural Protected Areas (SERNANP). During this process, Upper Amazon Conservancy (UAC) is providing specialized technical and legal assistance to the field team, as well as support with monitoring, procedures, and logistics.
The first day of fieldwork carried out by DRAU's specialized technical team with support from UAC.
This important step toward securing the legal rights to Alto Esperanza's territory is particularly significant because the community plays a vital role in protecting Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation. Its territory borders the Murunahua and Mashco Piro Indigenous Reserves, as well as Alto Purús National Park. In recent years, this region has faced increasing invasions by illegal loggers and agricultural settlers who are clearing Indigenous forests to cultivate coca for the illegal drug trade. (Insert link to Mongabay article)
The fieldwork is expected to last 23 days and is being carried out by DRAU's specialized technical team, consisting of: 2 team leaders, 4 field technicians, 1 field lawyer, 2 nurses and One GIS specialist. Before deployment, the team received training from the Ministry of Culture (MINCUL) on the “Protocol for Action in Cases of Encounter, Sighting, or Contact with Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation, and Guidelines for Engagement with Indigenous Peoples in Initial Contact”. They also complied with the biosafety protocols established under Peru's health regulations for Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI).
The specialized technical team before departing from Pucallpa to Alto Esperanza Native Community.
The land titling process for Alto Esperanza is exceptionally challenging because the community is in one of the most remote areas of the Peruvian Amazon. In addition, there is no precedent in Peru for titling the territory of an Indigenous community in a situation of initial contact. UAC has supported Alto Esperanza's land titling process for several years by providing technical, logistical, legal, and financial assistance. We are grateful to our strategic partners and to our financial partner Re:wild for helping make it possible for Alto Esperanza to become the first Indigenous community in initial contact in Peru's history to obtain a formal land title.
About the Alto Esperanza Native Community of the Inuya River
The Alto Esperanza Native Community belongs to the Amahuaca Indigenous people, part of the Pano ethnolinguistic group. The community consists of approximately 50 people living near the headwaters of the Inuya River, in the Raymondi District, Atalaya Province, Ucayali Region, Peru.