In 2006 the South Korean company Ecoamerica asked the Peruvian Organismo de Formalización de la Propiedad Informal (COFOPRI) for over 72,000 ha at $.80 an acre. The agency didn't respond to the request, so in 2010 the corporation sued COFOPRI and Superintendencia Nacional de Registros Públicos (SUNARP) de Loreto, citing 'administrative silence'. Administrative battles raged above the heads of the local people, who only heard of the prospective land deal in 2010. Two Shawi communities and one Kechwa community from the district of Pongo de Caynarachi, in the province of Lamas, and the district of Papaplaya, in the province and region of San Martin, Peru and their federation of tribes adamantly opposed the corporation's actions in their land. Although the communities have no official land titles, the land is definitively within ancestral areas and the intended crop production, logging, and livestock operation would severely negatively impact their livelihoods. The communities contested the concession by writing official letters, sending petitions, and holding meetings. In 2011 the Constitutional Court ruled against Ecoamerica, but not before 400 ha was deforested without land titles. The company Ecoamerica SAC is currently listed as 'closed'. |