The world’s most recognised ecolabel is betraying the lives of uncontacted Maschco Piro people and is “endorsing the systematic violation of Indigenous people’s rights.”
That is according to three key Amazonian Indigenous organisations, who have accused a “half-hearted” Forest Stewardship Council of “deliberately delaying a decision on whether to withdraw certification from Canales Tahuamanu,” a logging company that “has bulldozed 120 miles of forests on the uncontacted Mashco Piro peoples’ land.”
Instead, they have vowed to boycott “pointless” negotiations with FSC, arguing that FSC and Canales Tahuamanu have known for “at least eight years” that the Maschco Piro lived close to the logging concessions.
According to Fiona Watson, Research and Advocacy Director of Survival International – who last month published viral footage of the Maschco Piro attacking logging trucks – the Indigenous statement must increase pressure on the FSC to end wood certification from Mashco Piro territory:
“FSC is hiding behind yet another so-called investigation. It’s doing exactly what it’s done before—stalling for time to allow the destruction of Mashco Piro’s forest to continue. Logging must end now, or the consequences for Mashco Piro will be dire.”
The statement, co-signed by the Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the Inter-Ethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), and the Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries (FENAMAD), comes days after FSC made a statement after footage of the Maschco Piro dominated the global news cycle.
FSC International’s response to the Maschco Piro footage
“The recent online campaign, highlighting developments in the Madre de Dios region of Peru, highlighted a critical issue that FSC is aware of and has been actively addressing since it emerged a few years ago,” FSC International said. “In response to initial concerns about Maderera Canales Tahuamanu (MCT) operating in areas linked to the Mashco Piro territory, FSC acted immediately by raising this issue with the certification body and Assurance Services International (ASI) in 2022 and 2023.”
“The conclusions of the evaluations they carried out confirmed that MCT has a current logging concession granted by government authorities, which is located in a permanent production forest,” adding that MCT’s forest management unit is adjacent to the Madre de Dios territorial reserve where the Mashco Piro people reside.” Before adding, “The company has protocols in place to prevent encounters with members of the Mashco Piro, designed in coordination with Peru’s Ministry of Culture, which is responsible for protecting Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation.”
Environmental Groups have criticised FSC International for lack of action
Survival International, a UK-based human rights organisation, has slammed that response. Late last week, it published a statement claiming that:
“Despite clear evidence that logging on their land violates the rights of uncontacted Mashco Piro people—and that it could cause a humanitarian catastrophe—the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) refuses to withdraw its certification of Canales Tahuamanu logging company.”
“On 17 July, the FSC promised to conduct a review sometime in the future and referred to a previous “assessment” of the logging company’s permit. That response is weak and unacceptable. The very purpose of the FSC is to ensure responsible forest management. But this operation could manage the Mashco Piro right out of existence. The FSC must do the right thing—revoke the certification—immediately. Lives are at stake.”
- To learn more about the role of Indigenous peoples in managing the Amazon (and Atlantic forests) click on Wood Central’s special feature.
