Overview

• Advocates warn the vote leaves the remote forest open to logging, mining and other incursions that threaten isolated communities.
• The proposed 1.17 million-hectare reserve along Peru’s Loreto region on the Brazil border would have protected the Matses, Matis, Korubo, Kulina-Pano and Flecheiro (Tavakina).
• A 2024 government study documented more than 100 new pieces of evidence, mapped at least 25 settlements and estimated at least 640 people living in isolation inside the proposed area.
• Logging concession holders, regional business groups and some lawmakers opposed the plan, arguing it would restrict economic development and questioning evidence of uncontacted peoples.
• Indigenous leaders and rights groups condemned the rejection and said they will pursue further studies and resubmit the proposal as Congress advances a bid to toughen oversight of such reserves.