Displacement due to logging in Peru
Following illegal logging of mahogany trees across Peru's rainforests, the region's indigenous people , who have no contact with the outside world, are now fleeing their tradition territory and seeking shelter in Brazil along its border with Peru. The Brazilian government tracked them during an aerial inspection of the area.
Brazilian officials first spotted a village and hunting camps near the river Envira. They also found felled mahogany trees and drums of chainsaw oil floating down the river. However, the officials do not have much idea about the tribal people.
According to Survival International, a uk-based ngo working with indigenous people, there are already three groups living in the region. With more people from Peru seeking refuge, inter-group conflicts are feared. "Unless the Peruvian government acts now to stop logging in the lands of these Indians, they may well be consigned to history as the first peoples to disappear this century,' says Survival International.