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MAAP #217: Carbon across the Amazon (part 2): Peak Carbon Areas
Figure 1. Example of peak carbon areas in southern Peru and adjacent western Brazil. Data: Planet.
In part 1 of this series (MAAP #215), we introduced a critical new resource (Planet Forest Carbon Diligence) that provides wall-to-wall estimates for aboveground carbon density at an unprecedented 30-meter resolution. This data uniquely merges machine learning, satellite imagery, airborne lasers, and a global biomass dataset from GEDI, a NASA mission.4
In that report, we showed that the Amazon contains 56.8 billion metric tons of aboveground carbon (as of 2022), and described key patterns across all nine countries of the Amazon biome over the past decade.
Here, in part 2, we focus on the peak carbon areas of the Amazon that are home to the highest aboveground carbon levels.
These peak carbon areas correspond to the upper one-third of aboveground carbon density levels (>140 metric tons per hectare).1
They likely have experienced minimal degradation (such as selective logging, fire, and edge/fragmentation effects)2 and are thus a good proxy for high-integrity forests.
Figure 1 shows an important example of peak carbon areas in southern Peru and adjacent western Brazil.
The peak carbon areas are often found in the remote primary forests of protected areas and Indigenous territories, but some are located in forestry concessions (specifically, logging concessions) or undesignated lands (also referred to as undesignated public forests).
Our goal in this report is to leverage unprecedented aboveground carbon data to reinforce the importance of these designated areas and draw attention to the remaining undesignated lands.
For example, peak carbon areas would be excellent candidates for the High Integrity Forest (HIFOR) initiative, a new financing instrument that uniquely focuses on maintaining intact tropical forests.3 HIFOR rewards the climate services that intact tropical forests provide, including ongoing net carbon removal from the atmosphere, and complements existing instruments to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) by focusing on tropical forests that are largely undegraded.
Below, we detail the major findings and then zoom in on the peak carbon areas in the northeast and southwest Amazon.
Peak Carbon Areas in the Amazon
The Base Map below illustrates our major findings.
The peak carbon areas (>140 metric tons per hectare; indicated in pink) are concentrated in the southwest and northeast Amazon, covering 27.8 million hectares (11 million ha in the southwest and 16.8 million ha in the northeast).
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Base Map. Planet Forest Carbon Diligence across the Amazon biome for the year 2022. Data: Planet.
In the southwest Amazon, peak carbon levels are found in southern & central Peru, and adjacent western Brazil.
In the northeast Amazon, peak carbon levels are found in northeast Brazil, much of French Guiana, and parts of Suriname.
By country, Brazil and Peru have the largest area of peak carbon (10.9 million and 10.1 million hectares respectively), followed by French Guiana (4.7 million ha), and Suriname (2.1 million ha).
Protected areas and Indigenous territories cover much (61%) of the peak carbon area (16.9 million hectares).
The remaining 39% remains unprotected, and arguably threatened, in undesignated lands (9.4 million hectares) and forestry concessions (1.5 million ha), respectively.
In addition, high carbon areas (>70 metric tons per hectare; indicated by the greenish-yellow coloration in the Base Map) are found in all nine countries of the Amazon biome, notably Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, and Guyana.
Southwest Amazon
Southern Peru
Figure 2a. Peak carbon area in the southern Peruvian Amazon. Data: Planet, SERNANP, RAISG.
Figure 2a zooms in on the peak carbon area covering 7.9 million hectares in southern Peru (regions of Madre de Dios, Cusco, and Ucayali) and adjacent southwest Brazil (Acre).
Several protected areas (such as Manu and Alto Purús National Parks, and Machiguenga Communal Reserve) anchor this area.
It is also home to numerous Indigenous territories (such as Mashco Piro, Madre de Dios, and Kugapakori, Nahua, Nanti & Others Indigenous Reserves).
Figure 2b highlights the major land designations within the peak carbon area of southern Peru.
Figure 2b. Peak carbon areas (outlined in pink), categorized by land designation in southern Peru and adjacent western Brazil. Data: Planet, NICFI, SERNANP, SERFOR, RAISG.
Protected areas and Indigenous territories cover 77% of this area (green and brown, respectively).
The remaining 23% could be considered threatened, as they are located in forestry concessions or undesignated lands (orange and red, respectively). Thus, these areas are ideal candidates for increased protection to maintain their peak carbon levels.
Central Peru
Figure 3a. Peak carbon area in the central Peruvian Amazon. Data: Planet, SERNANP, RAISG.
Figure 3a zooms in on the peak carbon area in the central Peruvian Amazon, which covers 3.1 million hectares in the regions of Ucayali, Loreto, Huánuco, Pasco, and San Martin.
Several protected areas (including Sierra del Divisor, Cordillera Azul, Rio Abiseo, and Yanachaga–Chemillén National Parks, and El Sira Communal Reserve) anchor this area.
It is also home to numerous Indigenous territories (such as Kakataibo, Isconahua, and Yavarí Tapiche Indigenous Reserves).
Figure 3b. Peak carbon areas (outlined in pink), categorized by land designation in central Peru. Data: Planet, NICFI, SERNANP, SERFOR, RAISG.
Figure 3b highlights the major land designations within the peak carbon area of central Peru.
Protected areas and Indigenous territories cover 69% of this area (green and brown, respectively).
The remaining 31% could be considered threatened, as they are located in forestry concessions or undesignated lands (orange and red, respectively), and are ideal candidates for increased protection.
Northeast Amazon
Figure 4a. Peak carbon area in the tri-border region of the northeast Amazon. Data: Planet, RAISG.
Figure 4a zooms in on the peak carbon area in the tri-border region of the northeast Amazon, which covers 16.8 million hectares in northern Brazil, French Guiana, and Suriname.
Several protected areas (including Montanhas do Tumucumaque National Park in northeast Brazil, Amazonien de Guyane National Park in French Guiana, and Central Suriname Nature Reserve) anchor this area.
It is also home to numerous Indigenous territories (such as Tumucumaque, Rio Paru de Este, and Wayãpi in northeast Brazil).
Figure 4b. Peak carbon areas (outlined in pink), categorized by land designation in northeast Amazon. Data: Planet, NICFI, RAISG.
Figure 4b highlights the major land designations within the peak carbon area of the northeast Amazon.
Protected areas and Indigenous territories cover just over half (51%) of this area (green and brown, respectively).
The remaining 49% could be considered threatened, as they are located in undesignated lands, and are ideal candidates for increased protection.
Notes
1 We selected this value (upper 33%) to capture the highest aboveground carbon areas and include a range of high carbon areas. Additional analyses could target different values, such as the highest 10% or 20% of aboveground carbon.
2 A recent paper documented a strong relationship between selective logging and aboveground carbon loss (Csillik et al. 2024, PNAS). The link between forest edges and carbon is presented in Silva Junior et al, Science Advances.
3 High Integrity Forest (HIFOR) units are a new tradable asset that recognizes and rewards the essential climate services and biodiversity conservation that intact tropical forests provide, including ongoing net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. For more information see https://www.wcs.org/our-work/climate-change/forests-and-climate-change/hifor
4 For more information, see the “What is Forest Carbon Diligence?” section in this recent blog from Planet.
Citation
Finer M, Mamani N, Anderson C, Rosenthal A (2024) Carbon across the Amazon (part 2): Peak Carbon Areas. MAAP #217.
MAAP #220: Carbon across the Amazon (part 3): Key Cases of Carbon Loss & Gain _alt
In part 1 of this series (MAAP #215), we introduced a critical new dataset (Planet’s Forest Carbon Diligence product) that provides wall-to-wall estimates for aboveground carbon at an unprecedented 30-meter resolution. This data uniquely merges machine learning, satellite imagery, airborne lasers, and a global biomass dataset from GEDI, a NASA mission.
In part 2 (MAAP #217), we highlighted which parts of the Amazon are currently home to the highest (peak) carbon levels.
Here in part 3, we focus on aboveground carbon loss and gain, presenting a novel Base Map that shows wall-to-wall estimates across the Amazon between 2013 and 2022.
Overall, we find that the Amazon still narrowly functions as an overall carbon sink, gaining 64.7 million metric tons of aboveground carbon between 2013 and 2022.1
The countries with the most carbon gain are 1) Brazil, 2) Colombia, 3) Suriname, 4) Guyana, and 5) French Guiana. In contrast, the countries with the most carbon loss are 1) Bolivia, 2) Venezuela, 3) Peru, and 4) Ecuador.
Zooming in to the site level yields additional important findings.
For example, areas with the highest carbon loss highlight emblematic deforestation cases across the Amazon during the past ten years (Figure 1).
On the flip side, areas with the highest carbon gain indicate excellent candidates for the High Integrity Forest (HIFOR) initiative, a new financing instrument that uniquely focuses on maintaining intact tropical forests.2 Importantly, a HIFOR unit represents a hectare of high integrity tropical forest that has been ‘well-conserved’ over a decade.3
Below, we further illustrate these findings with a series of zooms of emblematic cases of high carbon loss and gain across the Amazon over the past 10 years.
Figure 1. Example of major deforestation event resulting in high carbon emissions…
Base Map – Amazon Carbon Loss & Gain (2013-2022)
Base Map. Major areas of carbon loss and gain across the Amazon between 2013 and 2022.
The Base Map shows wall-to-wall estimates of aboveground carbon loss and gain across the Amazon between 2013 and 2022.
Carbon loss is indicated by yellow to red, indicating low to high carbon loss.
Note the extensive carbon loss across the arc of deforestation in Brazil, the soy plantation region in southern Bolivia, the gold mining region in southern Peru, and the other arc of deforestation in Colombia (see Insets A-E).
We also note that the areas of high carbon loss in the remote border area between Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela appear to be from natural causes, according to an additional review of satellite imagery.
Carbon gain is indicated by light to dark green, indicating low to high carbon gains.
Note that much of the Amazon functions as a carbon sink, with especially high carbon gain along the Ecuador-northern Peru border, eastern Colombia, western Brazil, and the northeast corner (Brazil, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana) (See Insets F-J).
Below, we present a series of zooms of the specific cases of high carbon loss and gain indicated in Insets A-J.
Emblematic Cases of Carbon Loss
Below we show a series…
A. Colombia National Parks (combine Tinigua, Macarena, north Chiribiquete)
B. Menonites Peru (just Vanderland area, not Chipiar)
C. Mining southern Peru
D – F. Best examples across Brazil
G. Suriname mining
Key Examples of Carbon Gain
Annex
In part 2 of this series (MAAP #217), we highlighted which parts of the Amazon are currently home to the highest (peak) aboveground carbon levels. Annex 1 shows these peak carbon areas in relation to the carbon loss and gain data presented above. Note that both peak carbon areas (southeast and northeast Amazon) are largely characterized by carbon gain.
Notes
1 In part 1 of this series (MAAP #215), we found the Amazon “is still functioning as a critical carbon sink”. As pointed out in a companion blog by Planet, however, the net carbon sink +64 million metric tons is quite small relative to the total estimate of 56.8 billion metric tons of aboveground carbon across the Amazon. That is a net positive change of just +0.1%. As the blog notes, that’s a “very small buffer” and there’s “reason to worry that the biome could flip from sink to source with ongoing deforestation.”
2 High Integrity Forest (HIFOR) units are a new tradable asset that recognizes and rewards the essential climate services and biodiversity conservation that intact tropical forests provide, including ongoing net removal of CO2 from the atmosphere. HIFOR rewards the climate services that intact tropical forests provide, including ongoing net carbon removal from the atmosphere, and complements existing instruments to reduce emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD+) by focusing on tropical forests that are largely undegraded. For more information see https://www.wcs.org/our-work/climate-change/forests-and-climate-change/hifor
3 High Integrity Forest Investment Initiative, Methodology for HIFOR units, April 2024. Downloaded from https://www.wcs.org/our-work/climate-change/forests-and-climate-change/hifor
Citation
Finer M, Mamani N, Anderson C, Rosenthal A (2024) Carbon across the Amazon (part 3): Key Cases of Carbon Loss & Gain. MAAP: 220.
MAAP #219: Illegal mining expansion in the Ecuadorian Amazon (Punino area)
Base Map. Mining deforestation in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Punino area). Data: ARCERNNR 2022, Planet-NICFI, EcoCiencia.
In a series of previous reports, we warned about the emergence and expansion of illegal mining deforestation in the heart of the Ecuadorian Amazon, in the area surrounding the Punino River, located between the provinces of Napo and Orellana (MAAP #182, MAAP #151).
In the most recent report, we informed that this mining impact had reached 1,000 hectares (MAAP #206).
Here, we provide an update on the growing mining activity in and around the Punino River basin during the first half of 2024.
The Base Map shows an increase of 420 hectares in 2024 (indicated in red), bringing the total impact to 1,422 hectares (3,500 acres) since its inception in 2019 (yellow and red combined). This total is equivalent to more than 2,000 professional soccer fields.
The Base Map also shows that the vast majority (90%) of the mining deforestation is located outside the limits of the areas authorized for such activity (according to the mining registry updated to 2022). In other words, the vast majority of mining is likely illegal.
We emphasize that the mining deforestation has rapidly expanded to enter the limits of two protected areas: Sumaco-Napo Galeras National Park and El Chaco Municipal Conservation Area (see Figure 1, below).
In addition, the mining deforestation is actively expanding within the boundaries of Indigenous territories of the Kichwa nationality (see Figure 2, below).
Below we illustrate in more detail the rapid increase in mining deforestation, especially in these protected areas and Indigenous territories.
Mining expansion in the Punino area, 2019-2024
Chart 1 illustrates the steadily increasing mining deforestation in the Punino area over the past 5 years. The impact began in 2019, reaching 1,000 hectares by the end of 2023, and more recently reaching 1,422 hectares in June 2024.
Chart 1. Historical deforestation due to mining in the Punino area between November 2019 and June 2024
Expansion of illegal mining in protected areas
Figure 1 shows the expansion of mining deforestation in and around the two protected areas of the Punino zone. Note that mining has recently penetrated the boundaries of both Sumaco-Napo Galeras National Park (0.32 hectares) and El Chaco Municipal Conservation Area (144 hectares).
Figure 1. Protected areas affected by mining activity between 2019 and 2024 in the Punino area. Data: ARCERNNR 2022, MAATE 2024, NCI 2018, Planet-NICFI, EcoCiencia.
Figure 2 shows the initial encroachment (0.32 hectares) of mining deforestation in the boundaries of Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park between September 2022 (left panel) and June 2024 (right panel).
Figure 2. Mining deforestation within the boundaries of Sumaco Napo-Galeras National Park, comparing September 2022 (left panel) with June 2024 (right panel). Data: MAATE 2024, Planet/NICFI, EcoCiencia.
Figure 3 shows the invasion and expansion of deforestation due to mining (144 hectares) within the boundaries of El Chaco Municipal Conservation Area between September 2023 (left panel) and June 2024 (right panel).
Figure 3. Mining deforestation within the boundaries of the El Chaco Municipal Conservation Area, comparing September 2023 (left panel) with June 2024 (right panel). Data: NCI 2018, Planet/NICFI, Ecociencia.
Expansion of illegal mining in indigenous territories
Figure 4 shows the expansion of mining deforestation (300 hectares) in relation to the Indigenous territories of the Kichwa nationality in the Punino area.
Figure 4. Indigenous territories affected by mining activity between 2019 and 2024 in the Punino area. Data: RAISG 2023, ARCERNNR 2022, Planet-NICFI, EcoCiencia.
Figure 5 shows the expansion of deforestation due to mining in the indigenous territories of the Kichwa nationality between September 2023 (left panel) and June 2024 (right panel).
Figure 5. Mining deforestation within indigenous territory of the Kichwa nationality, comparing September 2023 (left panel) with June 2024 (right panel). Data: RAISG 2023, Planet-NICFI, EcoCiencia.
Figure 6 shows the expansion of deforestation due to mining in indigenous territories of the Kichwa nationality south of the study area between November 2019 (left panel) and June 2024 (right panel).
Figure 6. Mining deforestation within indigenous territory of the Kichwa nationality, comparing November 2019 (left panel) with June 2024 (right panel). Data: RAISG 2023, Planet-NICFI, EcoCiencia.
Annex 1
Annex 1 shows the four watersheds impacted by mining activity: the Punino River basin and also the Sardinas River, Lumucha River and Supayacu River basins, which in turn form part of the Coca River macro-water system.
Annex 1. Water systems impacted by mining activity in the Punino area.
Annex 2
Annex 2 shows the construction of 91 kilometers of roads due to mining activity.
Annex 2. Construction of access roads associated with mining activity.
Acknowledgements
This report is part of a series focused on the Ecuadorian Amazon through a strategic collaboration between the EcoCiencia Foundation and Amazon Conservation, with the support of the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad).
MAAP #218: Killing of Environmental Defenders in the Peruvian Amazon
Peruvian environmental defender Edwin Chota was murdered by illegal loggers in 2014 for attempting to protect his Indigenous community from Exploitation. See Illegal Logging section. Photo: NYT/Tomas Munita.
Amazon Conservation’s MAAP program specializes in reporting on the most urgent deforestation threats facing the Amazon and producing big-picture analyses of key Amazon-wide issues.
This report uniquely presents a view into the complicated but critical issue of murders of environmental defenders, examining the relationship between the location of these killings and deforestation in the Peruvian Amazon to provide a better understanding of the context of their deaths.
Between 2010 and 2022, an estimated 29 Peruvian environmentalists and Indigenous leaders were killed while defending various parts of Peru’s Amazon from invaders seeking to exploit its resources (RAISG 2022).
Importantly, the frequency of these murders has increased in recent years, with nearly half (14 out of 29) occurring since 2020.
Our findings indicate that these murders are connected to five major issues in the Peruvian Amazon:
Illegal gold mining, Illegal logging, Illicit crops (coca), Land trafficking, and Protesting.
This report focuses on the first three (Illegal gold mining, Illegal logging, and Illicit crops).
Base Map
Base Map. Location of the 29 environmental defenders murdered in Peru and the suspected causes related to major environmental threats in the region 2010-2022. Sources: IBC, MINJUS, SERNANP, Conservación Amazónica-ACCA.
The Base Map shows the location of the 29 documented environmental defenders killed in Peru between 2010-2022.
It also indicates the environmental threat related to each death as the suspected or confirmed motive for the crime: Illegal Gold Mining, Illegal Logging, Illicit Crops (coca), Land Trafficking, and Protest.
Note that many of the murders occurred in geographic clusters that coincide with the major environmental conflict of that specific area.
For example, gold mining is a major cause of conflict in the southern Peruvian Amazon, while illegal logging and illicit crops are more common threats in the central Peruvian Amazon.
Murders related to Illegal Gold Mining
Illegal gold mining has long been, and continues to be, a major issue in the southern Peruvian Amazon (Madre de Dios region), particularly in Indigenous territories and protected area buffer zones (MAAP#208).
For example, Figure 1 illustrates the extensive gold mining deforestation (indicated in orange) in the Tambopata National Reserve buffer zone and surrounding Indigenous territories.
Figure 1. Three cases of environmental defender deaths related to illegal mining. Sources: IBC, MINJUS, SERNANP, Conservación Amazónica-ACCA.
Since 2015, three environmental defenders have been killed within or near the Tambopata National Reserve buffer zone (see yellow dots in Figure 1). All three cases involved forestry concessionaires trying to defend their concession from illegal mining invasion.
In 2015, Alfredo Vracko Neuenschwander was killed near the critical mining area known as “La Pampa” located in the core of the buffer zone. Note that during the two years prior to his death, more than 1,700 hectares were deforested in La Pampa due to illegal gold mining (MAAP #1). Vracko, who was president of the Madre de Dios Federation of Forestry and Reforestation Concessionaires at the time, is believed to have been killed by illegal miners who were scheduled to be evicted from his forestry concession on the same day. However, his murder remains officially unsolved.
In 2020, Roberto Carlos Pacheco Villanueva was killed just outside the Tambopata buffer zone. Villanueva owned a forestry concession that had been illegally deforested and burned by invaders linked to illegal mining. Having filed legal complaints about the illegal use of his land, Villanueva faced numerous threats against his life in the years leading up to his murder. While still unsolved, it is believed that his murder was committed by the same miners who invaded his concession.
More recently, in 2022, Juan Julio Fernández Hanco was murdered just off the Interoceanic Highway near the edge of the Tambopata buffer zone. During this period (2021-2023), nearly 24,000 hectares were deforested due to gold mining in this area (MAAP #195). The investigation is ongoing, with the suspects being illegal miners who invaded Juan Julio’s reforestation concessions.
Murders related to Illegal Logging
Illegal logging has been a significant problem across the Peruvian Amazon for years. A recent report revealed that over 20% of timber harvested in Peru in 2021 came from illegal origins (OSINFOR, 2024). Loreto, Madre de Dios, Amazonas, and Ucayali were identified as the regions with the highest levels of unauthorized timber extraction.
Figure 2. Four environmental defender deaths related to illegal logging. Sources: IBC, MINJUS, DEVIDA, SERNANP, ACCA.
In 2014, illegal loggers murdered four men from the community of Alto Tamaya-Saweto, in one of the most well-known murder cases of Peruvian environmental defenders. These defenders (Edwin Chota Valera, Francisco Pinedo Ramírez, Jorge Ríos Pérez, and Leoncio Quintisima Meléndez) were killed along the Peru-Brazil border (see orange dots in Figure 2), following a decade of complaints from Chota about the presence of criminal logging groups in their community. Ten years later, in April 2024, a group of loggers were found guilty of the murders and sentenced to nearly 30 years in prison. This case has since been appealed with the expectation of going to Peru’s supreme court.
Murders related to Illicit Crops (Coca)
Official data indicates that the surface area of coca production in Peru continues to increase, particularly in the central Peruvian Amazon along the Andes Mountains (in the regions of Ucayali and Huánuco). Since 2010, ten environmental defenders have been killed in this area related to their fight against coca-related activities (see red dots in Figure 3).
Figure 3. Ten cases of environmental defender deaths related to illegal coca production. Sources: IBC, MINJUS, DEVIDA, SERNANP, Conservación Amazónica-ACCA.
Three environmental defenders (Santiago Vega Chota, Yenes Ríos Bonsano, and Herasmo García Grau) were killed in 2020 and 2021 within or near their communities of Sinchi Roca and Puerto Nuevo in the region of Ucayali, following their attempts to monitor their communities’ territories for coca production. Both communities are located within a coca production zone known as Aguaytía, which experienced a 158% increase in coca cultivation between 2018 and 2022 (DEVIDA 2022).
Between 2010 and 2020, four environmental defenders (Segundo José Reategui, Manuel Tapullima, Justo Gonzales Sangama, and Arbildo Melendez) were murdered in or near the Unipacuyacu Indigenous community. These four deaths have been linked to illegal coca production by outsiders on community lands that have not yet been officially titled by the government, which has facilitated these invasions. Unipacuyacu is located within the Pichis-Palcazu-Pachitea coca production zone spanning the Huánuco and Pasco regions, where coca cultivation increased by more than 450% between 2018 and 2022 (DEVIDA 2022).
Finally, three other environmental defenders (Jesús Berti Antaihua Quispe, Gemerson Pizango Narvaes, and Nusat Parisada Benavides de la Cruz) were killed in 2022 in their communities of Santa Teresa and Cleyton. These two indigenous communities are located within and just outside of the in an area outside of the El Sira Communal Reserve buffer zone. During the four years leading up to their deaths, coca production in El Sira and its buffer zone increased by over 500% (DEVIDA 2022). While unconfirmed, it is believed that these murders were committed by mafias tied to drug trafficking and illegal mining.
Regulatory Basis
Peru ranks among the countries with the highest number of environmental defender deaths worldwide (Global Witness 2023).
Peru’s National Plan for Human Rights 2018-2021, defines an environmental defender as someone who: As an individual or collective, carries out a legitimate activity, paid or not, consisting of demanding and promoting, within the legally permitted framework, in a peaceful and nonviolent manner, the effectiveness of violated rights. Their efforts are usually manifested publicly through demands and raised through regular process channels, conforming with the framework devoted to these fundamental rights.
To address the vulnerability of environmental defenders, the Peruvian government, specifically the Ministry of Justice and Human Rights (MINJUSDH), has developed regulations to ensure their protection. The most important of these are:
| Regulation | Title | Importance |
|
Supreme Decree N 002-2018-JUS |
National Plan for Human Rights 2018-2021 |
Establishes that environmental defenders are a group of special protection and requests that the state adopts measures to protect them. |
|
Supreme Decree 004-2021-JUS |
Intersectoral Mechanism for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders |
Establishes the principles, measures, and proceedings to guarantee the prevention, protection, and access to justice for human rights defenders prior to risk situations, being the highest ranking standard in the country. |
|
Ministerial Resolution 255-2020-JUS |
Registry on Risk Situations for Human Rights Defenders
|
Recognizes, analyzes, and manages information about the risks that human rights defenders face, and adopts actions to prevent threats. |
Peru has also taken an intersectoral approach by coordinating participation among eight ministries: Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of the Environment, Ministry of Culture, Ministry of Woman and Vulnerable Populations, Ministry of External Relations, Ministry of Energy and Mines, and Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation Development. A public implementing agency, the National Commission for Development and Life Without Drugs (DEVIDA), also cooperates with this effort.
Despite these efforts, defenders continue to face criminalization, legal harassment, and threats of violence and murder. This shows the urgent need to strengthen their protection and institutional support in Peru.
In response, the Peruvian Congress has recently enacted three new laws to further protect human rights defenders. These include (i) Bill 4686/2022-CR, a law that recognizes and protects defenders of environmental rights, and (ii) Bill 2069/2021-PE, a law for the protection and assistance of communal and/or Indigenous or native leaders at risk. Moving forward, how the ongoing Alto Tamaya-Saweto case proceeds through Peru’s Supreme Court will be crucial to future efforts to protect environmental and human rights defenders.
References
Comisión Nacional Para El Desarrollo y Vida Sin Drogas (DEVIDA). 2023. Perú: Monitoreo de cultivos de coca 2022.
Global Witness 2023. Casi 2.000 personas defensoras de la tierra y el medioambiente asesinadas entre 2012 y 2022 por proteger el planeta.
Organismo de Supervisión de los Recursos Forestales y de Fauna Silvestre (OSINFOR). 2024. Estimación del índice y porcentaje de tala y comercio ilegal de madera en el Perú 2021.
Red Amazónica de Información Socioambiental Georreferenciada (RAISG). 2022. Presiones, amenazas y violencia en la Amazonía peruana.
Acknowledgments
This report was prepared with support from the Instituto de Bien Común (IBC).
Citation
Montoya M, Bonilla A, Novoa S, Tipula P, Salisbury D, Quispe M, Finer M, Folhadella A, Cohen M (2024) Killing of Environmental Defenders in the Peruvian Amazon. MAAP:218.
MAAP #215: Unprecedented Look at Carbon across the Amazon (part 1)
Figure 1. Example of Planet Forest Carbon Diligence, focused on southern Peru and adjacent western Brazil.
The Amazon biome has long been one of the world’s largest carbon sinks, helping stabilize the global climate.
Precisely estimating this carbon, however, has been a challenge. Fortunately, new satellite-based technologies are providing major advances, most notably NASA’s GEDI mission (see MAAP #213) and, most recently, Planet Forest Carbon Diligence.1
Here, we focus on the latter, analyzing Planet’s cutting-edge new dataset, featuring a 10-year historical time series (2013 – 2022) with wall-to-wall estimates for aboveground carbon density at 30-meter resolution.
As a result, we can produce high-resolution aboveground carbon maps and estimates for anywhere and everywhere across the vast Amazon (see Figure 1).
Through a generous sharing agreement with Planet, we have been granted access to this data across the entire Amazon biome for the analysis presented in the following three-part series:
- Estimate and illustrate total aboveground forest carbon across the Amazon biome in unprecedented detail (see results of this first report, below).
j - Highlight which parts of the Amazon are home to the highest aboveground carbon levels, including protected areas and Indigenous territories (see second report, MAAP #217).
l - Present emblematic deforestation cases that have resulted in the highest aboveground carbon emissions across the Amazon (see third report, MAAP #220).
Major Results
Carbon across the Amazon
Based on our analysis of Planet Forest Carbon Diligence, we estimate that the Amazon contained 56.8 billion metric tons of aboveground carbon, as of 2022 (see Base Map). Applying a standard root-to-shoot ratio conversion (26%), this estimate increases to 71.5 billion metric tons of above and belowground carbon. This total is equivalent to nearly two years of global carbon dioxide emissions at the peak 2022 level (37.15 billion metric tons).5
The peak carbon levels are largely concentrated in the southwest Amazon (southern Peru and adjacent western Brazil) and northeast Amazon (northeast Brazil, French Guiana, and Suriname).
Base Map. Planet Forest Carbon Diligence across the Amazon biome.
Total Carbon by Country
As shown in Graph 1, countries with the most aboveground carbon are 1) Brazil (57%; 32.1 billion metric tons), 2) Peru (15%; 8.3 billion metric tons), 3) Colombia (7%; 4 billion metric tons), 4) Venezuela (6%; 3.3 billion metric tons), and 5) Bolivia (6%; 3.2 billion metric tons). These countries are followed by Guyana (3%; 2 billion metric tons), Suriname (3%; 1.6 billion metric tons), Ecuador (2%; 1.2 billion metric tons), and French Guiana (2%; 1.1 billion metric tons).
Overall, we documented the total gain of 64.7 million metric tons of aboveground carbon across the Amazon during the ten years between 2013 and 2022.2 In other words, the Amazon is still functioning as a critical carbon sink.
The countries with the most aboveground carbon gain over the past ten years are 1) Brazil, 2) Colombia, 3) Suriname, 4) Guyana, and 5) French Guiana. Note that we show Brazil as a carbon sink (gain of 102.8 million metric tons), despite other recent studies showing it as a carbon source.3 Also note the important gains in aboveground carbon across several key High Forest cover, Low Deforestation (HFLD) countries, namely Colombia, Suriname, Guyana, and French Guiana.4
In contrast, the countries with the most aboveground carbon loss over the past ten years are 1) Bolivia, 2) Venezuela, 3) Peru, and 4) Ecuador.
Graph 1. Planet Forest Carbon Diligence data across the Amazon biome, comparing 2013-14 with 2021-22. Note that a “+” symbol indicates that the country gained aboveground carbon, while a “-“ symbol indicates that the country lost aboveground carbon.
Carbon Density by Country
Standardizing for area, Graph 2 shows that countries with the highest aboveground carbon density (that is, aboveground carbon per hectare as of 2021-22) are located in the northeast Amazon: French Guiana (134 metric tons/hectare), Suriname (122 metric tons/hectare), and Guyana (85 metric tons/hectare). Ecuador is also high (94 metric tons/hectare).
Note that countries in the northeast Amazon (French Guiana, Suriname, and Guyana) have lower total aboveground carbon due to their smaller size (Graph 1), but high aboveground carbon density per hectare (Graph 2). This also applies to Ecuador.
Graph 2. Planet Forest Carbon Diligence data for aboveground carbon density by country across the Amazon, comparing 2013-14 with 2021-22. Note that a “+” symbol indicates that the country gained aboveground carbon, while a “-“ symbol indicates that the country lost aboveground carbon.
Notes & Citations
1 Anderson C (2024) Forest Carbon Diligence: Breaking Down The Validation And Intercomparison Report. https://www.planet.com/pulse/forest-carbon-diligence-breaking-down-the-validation-and-intercomparison-report/
2 In terms of uncertainty, the data contains pixel-level estimates, but not yet at national levels. To minimize annual uncertainty at the country level, we averaged 2013 and 2014 for the baseline and 2021 and 2022 for the current state.
3 Recently, in MAAP #144, we showed Brazil as a carbon source, based on data from 2001 to 2020. In contrast, Planet Forest Carbon Diligence is based on data from 2013 to 2022. Thus, one interpretation of the difference is that most carbon loss occurred in the first decade of the 2000s, which is consistent with historical deforestation data showing peaks in the early 2000s. It also highlights the likely importance of the interplay between forest loss/degradation (carbon loss) and forest regeneration (carbon gain) in terms of whether a country is a carbon source or sink during a given timeframe.
4 HFDL, or “High Forest cover, Low Deforestation” describes countries with both a) high forest cover (>50%) and low deforestation rates (<0.22% per year). For more information on HFDL, see https://www.conservation.org/blog/what-on-earth-is-hfld-hint-its-about-forests
5 Annual carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions worldwide from 1940 to 2023
Citation
Finer M, Mamani N, Anderson C, Rosenthal A (2024) Unprecedented Look at Carbon across the Amazon. MAAP #215.
MAAP #216: Uncontacted Indigenous group threatened by logging in the southern Peruvian Amazon
Photo taken from the recent encounter with Mashco Piro along the Las Piedras River, June 2024. Photo: Survival International.
In late June 2024, a large group of Mashco Piro men appeared along the upper Las Piedras River, in the southern Peruvian Amazon (see photo), near the Yine Indigenous community of Monte Salvado.
The Mashco Piro are one of the largest and most emblematic uncontacted Indigenous groups in the world. They live in voluntary isolation in this remote but increasingly threatened area.
The photos and videos of this encounter, released by the organization Survival International, have generated worldwide news about the event.1
On the one hand, local experts and Indigenous representatives indicate that the Mashco Piro were likely searching the exposed riverbanks for turtle eggs, a usual occurrence that time of year when river levels are low.
On the other hand, the encounter also highlighted that the Mashco Piro are increasingly threatened by external pressures, especially by logging concessions granted by the Peruvian government.
In 2002, the Peruvian government created the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve to protect part of the Mashco Piro territory. However, some of their ancestral territory was left out and granted to logging companies.
Here, we analyze and illustrate the conflict caused by these logging concessions (and their logging roads) in the ancestral territory of the Mashco Piro.
Base Map of the Encounter Area
The Base Map shows the general area where the Mashco Piro recently appeared along the upper Las Piedras River (see “Encounter Area”) in relation to the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve, logging concessions, and logging roads.
Base Map. Recent Mashco Piro encounter point in relation to logging concessions and logging roads in the southern Peruvian Amazon. Data: SERFOR (logging concessions), Conservación Amazónica-ACCA (logging roads).
Logging Concessions
As mentioned above, although the government created the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve to protect part of the Mashco Piro territory, their ancestral territory extended over areas now covered by logging concessions, causing the current context of risk and conflict. Much of the area east of the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve is subject to legalized logging in the ancestral territory.
Survival International’s press release made special note of the fact that some of the companies operating in Mashco Piro territory are additionally legitimized through certificates of sustainable origin and respect for human rights, in particular the concession operated by the company Canales Tahuamanu S.A.C.
Despite its controversial location next to the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve, this concession is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as a responsible forestry operation that is environmentally appropriate and socially beneficial.
In contrast, the Indigenous Federation FENAMAD (Native Federation of the Madre de Dios River and Tributaries) points out that this concession is within the proposed expansion zone of the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve, given its importance for the Mashco Piro and the high probability of conflict.
Logging Roads
We also highlight the recent expansion of logging roads,2 which is our best proxy for actual logging activity.
We indicate the most recent logging roads, built between 2020 and 2023, in red. Of these, we estimate the construction of over a thousand kilometers (1,013 km) in the logging concessions east of the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve.
Most notably, we detect the recent construction of 110 kilometers of new logging roads in the FSC-certified concession operated by Canales Tahuamanu, adjacent to the Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve.
Notes
1 Examples of global coverage on the encounter include CNN, Reuters, and BBC. The original press release was produced by Survival International, and the photos and video they released can be viewed here.
2 Data for logging roads obtained from MOCAF (Monitoreo de Caminos Forestales), an initiative developed by the organization Conservación Amazónica to specifically track logging roads in Peru, within the SERVIR Amazonia Program.
Citation
Finer M, Ariñez A (2024) Uncontacted Indigenous group threatened by logging in the southern Peruvian Amazon. MAAP: 216.
MAAP #216: Pueblo Indígena “no contactado” (Mashco Piro) amenazado por la tala en Perú
Fotografía tomada del reciente encuentro con Mashco Piro a lo largo del río Las Piedras, junio de 2024. Foto: Survival International.
A finales de junio del 2024, un numeroso grupo de Indígenas Mashco Piro apareció en la parte alta del río Las Piedras (ver foto), en el sur de la Amazonía peruana, cerca la comunidad Indígena Yine de Monte Salvado.
Los Mashco Piro son uno de los grupos Indígenas “no contactado” mas numerosos y emblemáticos en el mundo. Viven en aislamiento voluntario en esta zona remota, pero cada vez más amenazada.
Las fotos y vídeos de este encuentro difundidas por la organización Survival International ha generando una noticia mundial sobre el suceso.1
Por un lado, los expertos locales y los representantes indígenas indican que los Mashco Piro probablemente estaban buscando huevos de tortuga en las orillas expuestas del río, algo habitual en esa época del río, cuando el nivel es bajo.
Por otro lado, el encuentro también puso de relieve que los Mashco Piro están cada vez más amenazados por presiones externas, sobre todo por la constante expansión de los caminos madereros y las actividades de explotación forestal relacionadas que se superponen a su territorio.
Cabe enfatizar que, en el año 2002, el gobierno peruano creó la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios para proteger parte del territorio de los Mashco Piro. Sin embargo, en los límites de dicha área se dejaron fuera algunos sectores habitados ancestralmente por el pueblo en aislamiento, y fueron concesionados y entregados a empresas forestales.
En el presente reporte, analizamos e ilustramos el conflicto de estas concesiones madereras (y sus caminos madereros) en el territorio ancestral de los Mashco Piro.
Mapa Base del Área de Encuentro
El Mapa Base muestra el área general donde los Mashco Piro aparecieron recientemente a lo largo de la parte alta del río Las Piedras (ver el punto amarillo) en relación con la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios, las concesiones madereras y sus caminos forestales.
Mapa Base. Punto de encuentro reciente de Mashco Piro en relación con concesiones madereras y caminos forestales en la Amazonía sur peruana. Datos: SERFOR (concesiones madereras), Conservación Amazónica (caminos forestales).
Concesiones Madereras
Como se ha mencionado más arriba, si bien el gobierno creó la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios para proteger parte del territorio de los Mashco Piro, su territorio ancestral se extendía sobre las áreas ya cubiertas por las concesiones madereras, causando el contexto de riesgo y conflictos que se puede observar actualmente. Es decir, toda la zona al este de la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios está sujeta a tala.
El comunicado de prensa de Survival International hacía especial hincapié en el hecho que algunas de las empresas que operan en territorio Mashco Piro son legitimadas a través de certificados de origen sostenible y respeto a los derechos humanos, en particular, la concesión operada por la empresa Canales Tahuamanu S.A.C.
A pesar de su conflictiva ubicación junto a la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios, esta concesión está certificada por el Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) como operación sostenible. En contraste, la Federación Indígena FENAMAD (Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes) señala que esta concesión se encuentra dentro la propuesta zona ampliada de la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios, dada su importancia para los Mashco Piro y la alta probabilidad de conflicto.
Caminos Madereros
También destacamos la reciente expansión de los caminos forestales,2 que es nuestro mejor indicador de la actividad forestal real.
En rojo, señalamos los caminos forestales más recientes, construidos entre 2020 y 2023. De ellos, estimamos la construcción de más de mil kilómetros (1.013 km) en las concesiones madereras al este de la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios.
En particular, detectamos la reciente construcción de 110 kilómetros de nuevos caminos forestales en la concesión certificada FSC operada por Canales Tahuamanu, adyacente a la Reserva Territorial Madre de Dios.
Notas
1 Algunos ejemplos de cobertura mundial del encuentro son CNN, Reuters, y BBC. El comunicado de prensa original fue producido por Survival International, y las fotos y el vídeo que publicaron se pueden ver aquí.
2 Los datos de caminos forestales se obtuvieron de MOCAF (Monitoreo de Caminos Forestales), una iniciativa desarrollada por la organización Conservación Amazónica para monitorear específicamente los caminos forestales en Perú, dentro del Programa SERVIR Amazonia.
Agradecimientos
Nosotros agradecemos la Federación Nativa del Río Madre de Dios y Afluentes (FENAMAD) y la organización Conservación Amazónica para sus comentarios e información.
Cita
Finer M, Ariñez A (2024) Pueblo Indígena no contactado (Mashco Piro) amenazado por la tala en Perú. MAAP: 216.
MAAP #214: Agriculture in the Amazon: New data reveals key patterns of crops & cattle pasture
Figure 1. Example of the merged agricultural and pasture data in a section of the Brazilian Amazon. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.
A burst of new data and online visualization tools are revealing key land use patterns across the Amazon, particularly regarding the critical topic of agriculture. This type of data is particularly important because agriculture is the leading cause of overall Amazonian deforestation.
These new datasets include:
- Crops. The International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a leading agriculture and food systems research authority, recently launched the latest version of their innovative crop monitoring product, the Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM).1 This latest version, developed with support from WRI’s Land & Carbon Lab, features spatial data for 46 crops, including soybean, oil palm, coffee, and cocoa. This data is mapped at 10-kilometer resolution across the Amazon and updated through 2020.2
j - Cattle pasture. The Atlas of Pastures,3 developed by the Federal University of Goiás, facilitates access to data regarding Brazilian cattle pastures generated by MapBiomas. This data is mapped at 30-kilometer resolution and updated through 2022. We use Collection 5 from Mapbiomas for the rest of the Amazonian countries.4
j - Gold mining. New mining data is included for additional context. Amazon Mining Watch uses machine learning to map open-pit gold mining.5 This data is mapped at 10-kilometer resolution across the Amazon and updated through 2023.
We merged and analyzed these new datasets to provide our first overall estimate of Amazonian land use, the most detailed effort to date across all nine countries of the biome. Figure 1 shows an example of this merged data in a section of the Brazilian Amazon.
Below, we present and illustrate the following major findings across the Amazon, and then zoom in on several regions across the Amazon to show the data in greater detail.
Major Findings
The Base Map illustrates several major findings detailed below.
Base Map. Overview of the merged datasets noted above for crops, pasture, and gold mining. Double-click to enlarge. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.
1) Crops
We found that 40 crops in the SPAM dataset overlap with the Amazon, covering over 106 million hectares (13% of the Amazon biome).
Soybean covers over 67.5 million hectares, mostly in southern Brazil and Bolivia. Maize covers slightly more area (70 million hectares) but we consider this a secondary rotational crop with soy (thus, there is considerable overlap between these two crops).
Oil palm covers nearly 8 million hectares, concentrated in eastern Brazil, central Peru, northern Ecuador, and northern Colombia.
In the Andean Amazon zones of Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia, cocoa covers over 8 million hectares and the two types of coffee (Arabica and Robusta) cover 6.7 million hectares.
Other major crops across the Amazon include rice (13.8 million hectares), sorghum (10.9 million hectares), cassava (9.8 million hectares), sugarcane (9.6 million hectares), and wheat (5.8 million hectares).
2) Cattle Pasture
Cattle Pasture covers 76.3 million hectares (9% of the Amazon biome). The vast majority (92%) of the pasture is in Brazil, followed by Colombia and Bolivia.
3) Crops & Cattle Pasture
Overall, accounting for overlaps between the data, we estimate that crops and pasture combined cover 115.8 million hectares. This total is the equivalent of 19% of the Amazon biome.
In comparison, open-pit gold mining covered 1.9 million hectares (0.23% of the Amazon biome).
Zooms across the Amazon
Eastern Brazilian Amazon
Figure 2 shows the transition from the soy frontier to the cattle pasture frontier in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Also note a mix of other crops, such as oil palm, sugarcane, and cassava, and some gold mining.
Figure 2. Eastern Brazilian Amazon. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.
Andean Amazon (Peru and Ecuador)
Figure 3. Andean Amazon. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.
The land use patterns are quite different in the Andean Amazon regions of Peru and Ecuador.
Figure 3 shows, that instead of soy and cattle pasture, there is instead oil palm, rice, coffee, and cocoa.
Also note the extension of the cattle pasture frontier in the western Brazilian Amazon, towards Peru and Bolivia.
Northeast Amazon (Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana)
Figure 4 shows the general lack of crops in the core Amazon regions Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana, which is surely a major factor they are all considered High Forest cover, Low Deforestation countries (HFLD). In contrast, note there is abundant gold mining activity throughout this region.
Figure 4. Northeastern Amazon. Data: IFRI/SPAM, Lapig/UFG, Mapbiomas, AMW, ACA/MAAP.
Methods
For the SPAM data, we used the physical area, which is measured in a hectare and represents the actual area where a crop is grown (not counting how often production was harvested from it). We only considered values greater than or equal to 100 ha per pixel.
For the Base Map, due to their importance as primary economic crops, we layered soybean and oil palm as the top two layers, respectively. From there, crops were layered in order of their total physical area across the Amazon. Thus, the full extensions of some crops are not shown if they overlap pixels with other crops that have greater physical area. For overlaps with crops and pasture, we favored the crops.
Notes & Data Sources
1 International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), 2024, “Global Spatially-Disaggregated Crop Production Statistics Data for 2020 Version 1.0” https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/SWPENT, Harvard Dataverse, V1
Spatial Production Allocation Model (SPAM)
SPAM 2020 v1.0 Global data (Updated 2024-04-16)
2 Note that the spatial resolution is rather low (10-kilometers) so all crop coverage data above should be interpreted as referential only.
3 The Atlas of Pastures (Atlas das Pastagens), open to the public, was developed by the Image Processing and Geoprocessing Laboratory of the Federal University of Goiás (Lapig/UFG), to facilitate access to results and products generated within the MapBiomas initiative, regarding Brazilian pastures.
https://atlasdaspastagens.ufg.br/
4 MapBiomas Collection 5; https://amazonia.mapbiomas.org/en/
5 See MAAP #212 for more information on Amazon Mining Watch.
Citation
Finer M, Ariñez A (2024) Agriculture in the Amazon: New data reveals key patterns of crops & cattle pasture. MAAP: 214.
