In Peru, the government unfortunately does not recognize the full territories of Indigenous Peoples, nor does it formally register their legal status. Instead, the government only grants land titles to families settled in specific tribal groups, classifying them as 'native communities.' This is problematic because the State only provides titles for the land where these communities have settled, while leaving the rest of their traditional territory—where they move and hunt—open to State control.
In the process of issuing land titles to communities or to the lands they occupy, the Peruvian State typically only grants titles for areas used for agriculture or livestock farming. Forested areas, on the other hand, are not given formal titles; instead, the State issues licenses for their use.
Currently, there is still significant demand for native community land titling in our region of Peru, for more or less 680 native communities on average, as well as 150, more or less, to be recognized. Therefore, with regards to the situation in Peru, nor is there direct funding for the governmental bodies that are charged with issuing land titles, known as the Regional Agricultural Directorates, nor is there a sufficiently staffed division that can carry out these processes and issue titles to at least those lands where these families are settled who belong to Indigenous Peoples.
Because the native communities or settled families in these areas lack legal documents proving ownership or title to the land, there is significant pressure from external migrants who invade the jungle in order to develop agriculture or plantations, whether legally or illegally. Furthermore, when state-led extractive or infrastructure projects take place in areas where Indigenous families are settled, the lack of legal land security puts them at risk of displacement.
For the past two years, we’ve been implementing a project with RRI called 'Territorial Consolidation.' The goal of the project is to support the recognition and titling of land for native communities, ensuring the protection of these territories and preventing invasions or displacement of families settled on a portion of their land.
The project focuses on securing land titles for these settled families and establishing monitoring mechanisms. This will allow native communities to track environmental impacts on both their titled lands and the areas they use for mobility. These impacts include oil spills, mercury contamination, forest fires, deforestation, soil degradation, and the trafficking of people, land, wildlife, and plants.
In summary, the project aims to ensure land ownership for native communities while providing them with the tools to monitor and protect their territories from environmental and social threats in their daily lives.
The project has been ongoing for several years, and in 2023, nine native communities were directly supported. While the main goal is to intervene with nine communities, work has been carried out with a total of 14 communities. Of these, three new communities have been officially recognized, eight have received land titles, and georeferencing has been completed for three.
In the fourth year of the project, physical and legal development processes are currently underway for nine more communities. Regarding monitoring, in 2023, the project implemented nine monitoring modules and established nine surveillance committees. These communities now have the capacity to send real-time alerts about events affecting them.
Looking ahead to 2024, the project has already begun field interventions for recognition and titling in additional communities. Equipment for the monitoring modules has been purchased, and installation will begin next month, with nine more modules to be set up in the identified communities.
One of the key achievements has been providing satellite internet to these remote communities, enabling them to connect with the outside world in real-time.
