Photo courtesy of SERFOR

On March 16, 7 indigenous organizations representing 52 Amazonian communities met in Lima to finalize the implementation plan for Prior Consultation in the regulation processes of the Forestry Law (Law N29763). This plan has been developed with indigenous stakeholder participation since 2012, and the final revision is set to take place on September 5 and 6 of this year.

The draft contains a list of actions that will occur in order to regulate the laws including a communication plan with indigenous communities, the terms by which these communities will contribute to the plan, and the logistics set in place to foster intercultural dialogue throughout the process.

Prior consultation has always been intertwined with the Forestry Law in Peru. The National Forest Service (SERFOR), a sub-department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, is responsible for the advancement of this regulation. SERFOR believes that the regulation of this law will allow the forest to become a means of national development and create a way for Indigenous Peoples to conduct sustainable resource management.

2 of the 7 signatories are RRI collaborators, including Henderson Rengifo, president of AIDESEP (The Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest) and Gladis Villa, president of ONAMIAP (National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Women of Peru).