Threats to the Kakataibo Extremo Norte Area
An unprotected area in Peru’s Amazon, known as Kakataibo Extremo Norte (Kakataibo Extreme North), is increasingly surrounded by forestry concessions, illegal roads, illegal loggers, and drug traffickers. This region is home to Indigenous people living in voluntary isolation, and according to maps and confidential reports seen by Mongabay, the threats are mounting.
Julio Cusurichi, a Shipibo-Conibo leader and president of the Indigenous Federation of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries (FENAMAD), told Mongabay: “There are loggers there, there are illicit activities. It is a very worrying issue. The fact that these illegal activities are linked to roads is particularly concerning.”
Recognition Efforts Rejected by Government
Indigenous leaders and organizations have been seeking formal recognition of Kakataibo Extremo Norte as an Indigenous reserve since 2021. However, in 2023, the Ministry of Culture rejected the application. According to a confidential technical report seen by Mongabay, the ministry stated that the isolated Kakataibo people are already recognized by the Peruvian state and that measures for their protection are already established.
The proposed area lies above the Kakataibo North and South Indigenous Reserve (RIKNS), which spans 368,180 acres (roughly twice the size of New York City) across the departments of Loreto, Ucayali, and Huánuco. For safety reasons, the exact size and location of the proposed Kakataibo Extremo Norte reserve boundaries, as well as the concessions and illegal roads inside it, are not disclosed in this article.
Increasing Deforestation and Illegal Activities
Sources told Mongabay that deforestation has increased in Kakataibo Extremo Norte in recent years, along with the development of illegal roads. At least 15 forestry concessions operate within the boundary of the proposed reserve. Pierre Antonio Castro Rosado, an anthropologist for ORAU (the Ucayali regional branch of AIDESEP, Peru’s national Indigenous rights organization), warned that without formal recognition, loggers will continue to extract timber, destroying wildlife habitats and plant diversity that isolated people depend on. These peoples are also vulnerable to diseases like malaria when exposed to outsiders.
Kakataibo Indigenous communities, such as Unipacuyacu, face land invasions and deforestation. The Ministry of Culture did not respond to Mongabay’s requests for comment.
Background of the Reserve Process
The presence of isolated Kakataibo people was first documented across their traditional territory, which includes the RIKNS and areas outside it, such as Kakataibo Extremo Norte, forest concessions, and Cordillera Azul National Park and its buffer zone. In 1999, after AIDESEP received reports of uncontacted peoples, the NGOs AIDESEP and FENACOKA presented a technical study to the Regional Directorate of Agriculture of Ucayali (DRAU) proposing the creation of an Indigenous reserve. Studies using georeferencing, testimonies, material remains, and footprints were completed in 2002. In 2001, Cordillera Azul National Park was established, overlapping with about two-thirds of the area originally requested in 1999. The NGOs then proposed two neighboring but non-contiguous territorial zones.
A preliminary reconnaissance study (PRS) was conducted by the Institute for the Common Good (IBC) in close collaboration with the government. In 2018, IBC conducted fieldwork for the additional categorization study (EAC). These studies were formally presented to the Ministry of Culture in mid-2020, approved in February 2021, and ratified in July 2021. However, Castro noted that IBC found significant evidence of isolated people in the Kakataibo Extremo Norte area but did not include it in the final reserve application, possibly to avoid overlapping issues or conflicts with third parties. The resulting reserve only covers RIKNS.
New Application and Response
In December 2021, ORAU, AIDESEP, and FENACOKA made a formal request to the Ministry of Culture to recognize Kakataibo Extremo Norte. In a confidential letter, the ministry responded that the application was based on information from the earlier RIKNS studies and that a new study would be needed. Castro argued that conducting a new study is very expensive and that the ministry’s decision was wrong. “To this day, ORAU still hasn’t been able to find someone to directly finance it, to be able to do that study again,” he said.
Herlin Odicio Estrella, president of FENACOKA, has been active in protests defending Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI). The situation remains critical as threats escalate.