Head of the Native Communities area of the Agrarian Regional Directorate of Ucayali (DRAU, in Spanish), questioned the forest concessions through the Forests of Permanent Production (BPP, in Spanish) and showed his observations on Law 30723, promoted by Congressman Glider Ushñahua.
Servindi, February 28, 2018.- Servindi spoke with Antonio Collantes Zegarra, head of the Native Communities area of the Agrarian Regional Directorate of Ucayali (DRAU), about the the titling of territories of the communities of Ucayali.
Collantes, who is also an agronomist, said that one of the main "tensions" for the titling process of the communities are the forestry concessions of the Permanent Production Forests (BPP).
"Many of the populations that are within that great border declared as BPP are indigenous communities (...) This has become the main obstacle for the State to claim that they cannot be recognized until the concessions are over".
In this regard, he said that Ministerial Resolution 547-2014 - which states that the demarcation and titling of native communities cannot be suspended by the BPP - is not being obeyed.
The aforementioned regulation empowers the National Forestry and Wildlife Service (Serfor) to resize the BPP concession area to exclude the communities’ area.
"Serfor has concessions and projected programs in favor of forest concessionaires. It continues to believe that the forest entrepreneurs are the best w managing the tropical forest, and this is a mistake,” he stated.
Collantes Zegarra indicated that the lack of titling for the native communities violates rights such as the reproduction of identity and cultural values. He said, "If they [native communities] are exposed with the titling, it is worse without it."
Titling Block
The specialist noted that in the Ucayali region forest concessions blocked the titling of 30 communities, affecting the goal of holding 52 communities agreed by the Regional Government in the framework of Joint Declaration of Intent (JDI)
This action required at least one complaint from the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) in charge of the execution of the JDI. According to Collantes, the UNDP does not "raise its protest voice" in this regard or it is not known if they have done so despite putting the JDI's goals at risk.
When asked if this had happened in the case of the Specific Dedicated Mechanism Project (MDE, in Spanish) - SAWETO PERÚ , in which the indigenous organizations participate in the board and in the execution, Collantes indicated that probably not. "The indigenous organizations would have protested," he said.
It should be noted that the aforementioned project applies more direct mechanisms of indigenous participation, and receives technical and administrative assistance from the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) which administers World Bank funds.
Against “Ushñahua Law”
It is worth mentioning that Collantes participated in a forum on the impact of Law 30723 [4] -designated "Ushñahua Law" -, carried out in Pucallpa, Ucayali. During his participation, he questioned the current extractive model in the forestry sector. "What is the point of expanding this infrastructure to support this model?"
He suggested that the State should decentralize services and resources in areas such as Purús and Atalaya, located in Ucayali. He also said that the construction of roads could bring serious consequences such as illegal mining and drug trafficking.
----
Source URL: https://www.servindi.org/actualidad-entrevistas-noticias-audios/21/02/2018/bpp-esprincipal-obstaculo-en-proceso-de
Añadir nuevo comentario