By Steven Grattan BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — A commission in Peru was scheduled to vote Thursday on whether to create a long-delayed reserve in a remote stretch of the Amazon that would protect five uncontacted tribes from outside encroachment. The Yavari Mirim Indigenous Reserve, along the Loreto region’s border with Brazil, would include areas where the Matses, Matis, Korubo, Kulina-Pano and Flecheiro — also known as Tavakina – live in voluntary isolation with no sustained contact with the outside world. The groups are highly vulnerable to disease and exploitation. Indigenous communities across Peru’s Amazon also face mounting threats from illegal logging, mining, oil and gas drilling, and drug trafficking. The proposed reserve spans 1.17 million hectares (2.9 million acres), roughly the size of Jamaica. Two decades of discussions The proposal,…
Register
