San Martín Peru
The legal action filed in 2020 by the Puerto Franco Native Community and the Kichwa Ethnic Council of the Amazon (CEPKA) sought to protect their right to communal property, including access to and control of their natural resources within their territory, as well as the right to prior consultation regarding administrative acts and measures. These actions have generated two fundamental problems: first, the dispossession of their territory and the imposition of an exclusionary conservation scheme, with the creation of the Cordillera Azul National Park (PNCAZ) behind their backs; and second, the violation of the aforementioned internationally recognized rights of Indigenous communities. This poses a clear threat to the community's survival, as they have been deprived of areas where they practiced their traditional ways of life and applied their scientific and technical knowledge of sustainable hunting and fishing practices, their primary source of sustenance and resources. Furthermore, their crucial role in nature conservation has been ignored by imposing a protected natural area on them to certify a REDD+ project in their territory, where benefits are obtained without their knowledge or consent.
The demands of the Puerto Franco community and its organization CEPKA were well received by the Bellavista Mixed Court, which ruled in their favor in the first instance in April 2023; however, the ruling was overturned due to procedural issues. In a subsequent appeal, the victory of Puerto Franco and CEPKA was ratified with a new ruling dated December 13, 2024, ordering the titling of the territory of the Kichwa Native Community of Puerto Franco, the annulment of forestry concessions, the holding of a prior consultation regarding the creation of the PNCAZ (National Park of the Andes) and its Master Plan, guaranteeing the community's access to natural resources and its participation in the park's management, including the distribution of profits from the sale of carbon credits, which has been carried out behind their backs since 2008.
On December 13, 2024, the Mixed Court of Bellavista, in the San Martín region, Bellavista district, Peru, issued the final ruling. On December 26, 2024, the defendants filed an appeal.
Currently, the legal process continues, and in May 2025, the Court decided to admit the Ethnic Council of the Kichwa Peoples of the Amazon (CEPKA) as a co-litigant and accepted the amicus curiae brief submitted by the international organization Due Process of Law Foundation (DPLF). These two important decisions strengthen the case of Puerto Franco.
Violations of the internationally recognized rights of Indigenous communities were identified during the implementation of carbon credit projects promoted under the Paris Agreement. This is the case of the Kichwa people of the San Martín region, whose rights are affected by the creation of a protected natural area without their consent. In 2001, the Peruvian government established the Cordillera Azul National Park (PNCAZ) in an area of the Amazon rainforest that overlaps with the ancestral territories of several peoples, including the Kichwa. The creation of the park significantly affected the enjoyment of territorial rights by at least 29 native communities of this people, with varying degrees of proximity to and possession of the forests within the PNCAZ.
The Peruvian government has imposed an exclusionary conservation model that restricts the use, access, and control of ancestral Kichwa territories. These restrictions have limited traditional subsistence practices, such as hunting, fishing, gathering fruits and medicinal plants, and crop rotation within the PNCAZ (National Park of the Andes), disregarding the conservation work they have carried out for thousands of years as part of their Indigenous worldview. Furthermore, the National Service of Natural Protected Areas of Peru and the conservation NGO that manages the PNCAZ—the Center for Conservation, Research, and Management of Natural Areas (CIMA)—oppose the demarcation of the Kichwa people's ancestral territories within the park, unduly delaying the ongoing land titling processes.
This situation has been exacerbated by the sale of carbon credits behind the backs of the Kichwa people. Despite tens of millions of dollars being raised through the sale of these credits, the Kichwa communities have not received a share of the funds derived from the sale of the ecosystem services provided by their ancestral territories, and there is no transparency regarding the destination of these funds.
- Native community of Puerto Franco.
- Ethnic Council of the Kichwa Peoples of the Amazon (CEPKA)
- Regional Directorate of Agriculture of the Government of San Martín.
- Head of the National Service of State Protected Areas.
- Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.
- Ministry of the Environment.
- Head of the Cordillera Azul National Park.
- Alto Biavo Timber Group SAC.
- Eisen Paredes Grandez (Holder of concessions for timber purposes).
The Native Kichwa Community of Puerto Franco is located in the Pikiyacu Valley of Alto Biavo, in the department of San Martín. Its presence dates back decades, with records dating to the 16th century, when Jesuit missionaries used the Quechua language as a vehicle for the evangelization of indigenous peoples in the Amazon. The community members of Puerto Franco are recognized as part of the Kichwa indigenous people by the Ministry of Culture.
However, despite the long history of this Community's settlement in the Pikiyacu Valley of Alto Biavo, it was only recently recognized as a Native Community by the Regional Directorate of Agriculture of San Martín in 2016 through Directoral Resolution No. 228-2016-GR-SM/DRASAM. Despite this recognition, the territory traditionally occupied by the aforementioned community has not been granted title, resulting in dispossession and violation of their rights acquired through ancestral occupation, taking advantage of the ignorance of laws and rights that prohibit the limitation of the right to indigenous territory without justification.
International agreements/treaties
- ILO Convention 169.
- American Convention on Human Rights.
- United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
National standards
- Political Constitution of Peru.
- Forestry and Wildlife Law, approved by Law No. 29763.
- Regulations of the Forestry and Wildlife Law, approved by Supreme Decree No. 014-2001-AG.
- Law on the Right to Prior Consultation of Indigenous or Native Peoples, approved by Law No. 29785.
- Regulations of the Law on the Right to Prior Consultation of Indigenous or Native Peoples, approved by Supreme Decree No. 001-2012-MC.
- Law of Native Communities and Agricultural Development of the Jungle and Cloud Forest, approved by Decree Law No. 22175.