Peoples concerned: Ashaninka
Local partners: Asociacion para la Conservacion del Patrimonio del Cutivireni (ACPC)
Funders: Community Fund
Funding needed:
Project status: Active
External link: ACPC, Peru
Land Security for the Ashaninka People, River Tambo District, Eastern Peru
Ashaninka, Peru
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New crops can bring much needed cash income for Ashaninka communities
The project is located in an area emerging from a decade of violent conflict between the Sendero Luminoso revolutionary guerrilla movement and the Peruvian authorities. This conflict has caused the death or disappearance of several thousand people in the River Ene valley alone, mostly of the regions native inhabitants, the Asháninka peoples. During the conflict, official documents such as land titles and censuses of Asháninka lands and communities were systematically destroyed, or became lost. The area is now experiencing a spontaneous influx of Andean colonists seeking to take advantage of the resulting land tenure uncertainties in order to establish farmlands. This poses a major threat to the area's fragile forest environment, and is causing conflict between the Asháninka and colonists.
The overall aim of the project is to establish secure legal land tenure for the Ashaninka in order to underpin sustainable development and social peace in the River Tambo district. Specifically, the project will:
1. Map and define the land tenure boundaries between Ashaninka communities, colonist settlements, and the newly designated protected areas;
2. Ensure that the relevant official records, specifically the land registry, are updated to take account of the revised maps and tenure designations;
3. Resolve conflicts between Ashaninka communities and settler associations over land usage;
4. Develop a classification of the zone's natural resources as a basis for an integrated land management plan.
A large new protected area, the Otishi National Park, has recently been officially designated between the Ene, Tambo and Urubamba rivers, along with two indigenous communal reserves. These should offer greater long-term security for the core of the forest in the project area. However, it also raises challenges in terms of ensuring that the areas' indigenous people are properly involved in the management of the new protected areas.
Additional information
Ashaninka, Peru
The Ashaninka have been the victims of terrorism and displacement
