Human Rights and Resource Conflicts in the Amazon
Publisher: Rainforest Foundation Norway
Author(s): Torkjell Leira
Date: 2015
Topics: Extractive Resources, Land, Renewable Resources
Countries: Brazil, Colombia, Peru
This report investigates an alarming increase in human rights violations in the Amazon region. Human rights defenders, environmental activists and indigenous peoples are facing attacks and are being put under systematic pressure, and rights to land and to consultation are regularly encroached.
The Amazon comprises the largest tract of tropical rainforest in the world. Numerous indigenous peoples have traditionally inhabited this region, and 25 percent of its total land area is formally recognised as indigenous territories. Such territories are an effective means of protecting the forest. Deforestation and problems related to illegal logging have a lower incidence in indigenous territories than other areas, including protected areas.