The world’s most trusted ecolabel – FSC – has reinforced its commitment to protect the Mashco Piro peoples, and will now guide certified organisations (including Maderera Canales Tahuamanu, the legal operator of concessions close to Mashco Piro territories) to “take specific rights-based actions” to protect indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation.
“For the first time, FSC is publishing a strategy outlining how we are addressing the presence of Indigenous Peoples in voluntary isolation (IPVI) within FSC-certified forest areas in Peru,” according to Dania Musa, the Media Engagement Programme Manager for FSC International, who shared the report with Wood Central today. “The approach focuses on safeguarding rights, preventing harm, and aligning responsible forest management with the specific context of IPVI.”
The report, published yesterday, acknowledges the rights of Mashco Piro as well as 200 other Indigenous Groups in Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Venezuela, with FSC looking to respect IPVI’s rights to life, cultural identify, self-determination and Free, Prior and Informed Consent: “This case presented a unique challenge (for FSC): IPVI have the right to remain isolated, making engagement and consent — central to FSC’s system — impossible,” FSC said in the report.
As a result, Wood Central understands FSC will now publish an Advice Note which respects Maschco Piro’s choice of isolation, “by interpreting as non-consent to any forest management activity in their territories.” In effect, this prohibits companies that hold FSC certification from accessing those areas controlled by the Machco Piro peoples, with FSC to endorse buffer zones between Machco Piro-controlled territories and regions where sustainable forest management is occurring. “(FSC will also) request government action to formally delimit Mashco Piro territories (a process that started in 2016) and, if necessary, adjust concession boundaries,” the report said. And finally, it will “suspend operations if IPVI presence is detected and implement a contingency plan that includes: preventing contact, emergency response, ensuring the safety of IPVIs and workers, and respecting the rights of IPVIs in all circumstances.”
Earlier this year, Amazon Groups called out FSC for betraying the Mascho Piro peoples
The response comes after human rights groups called out FSC for betraying the lives of the Maschco Piro people and “endorsing the systematic violation of Indigenous people’s rights.” The statement, co-signed by the Coordinator of the Indigenous Organisations 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), came after footage of the Maschco Piro clashing with loggers deep inside the Amazon dominated the global news cycles.
According to Musa, public consultation on the Advice Note on IPVI and forest certification will be launched next month, with a motion on IPVIs to be discussed at the FSC General Assembly, in Panama, in October.
- To learn more about the role of Indigenous peoples in managing the Amazon (and Atlantic forests) click on Wood Central’s special feature.
