As Peru prepares to auction 18 new Amazon hydrocarbon concessions, environmental and indigenous groups are protesting that some blocks overlap protected lands and rainforest inhabited by nomads who shun contact with the outside world. Two blocks include portions of the new Sierra del Divisor Reserved Zone on the Brazilian border, an area of unusual geological formations and numerous endemic species. (See “Sierra del Divisor acreage earmarked for conservation”—EcoAméricas, May ’06.) Others intrude on buffer zones surrounding the Pacaya Samiria National Reserve and the Alto Purús, Manu and Cordillera Azul national parks. And seven overlap areas meant to protect nomadic indigenous groups living in isolation. On Feb. 4, the Inter-Ethnic Association for Development of the Peruvian Rainforest demanded the government exclude those concession blocks... [Log in to read more]