- Deforestation for illegal drug production is on the rise in and around Otishi National Park, Asháninka Communal Reserve and Machiguenga Communal Reserve in the Peruvian Amazon.
- During aerial reconnaissance, Mongabay Latam reporters observed clearings, trails and unauthorized airstrips in the park and Indigenous reserves.
- The NGO Global Conservation is beginning work to train members of Indigenous communities to monitor and enforce forest protection regulations.
AYACUCHO, Peru — From the sky, cleared areas periodically interrupted the green grasslands and steep mountains of the Asháninka Communal Reserve and Otishi National Park in Peru. Wide expanses of deforested land lay scattered between mountain peaks.
Via helicopter, Mongabay Latam reporters observed an immense mosaic of trees, pastures and agriculture, but crops couldn’t be identified from the air. Operated by the Peruvian Armed Forces, the helicopter began its flight at the southern ends of the reserves before following coordinates to several areas identified by Peru’s National Service of Natural Protected Areas (SERNANP) as showing signs of deforestation.
Whenever the cloud cover relented, the pilot flew close to deforested areas. On this particular afternoon in May 2023, there were no signs of illegal loggers, but a wide path winding along one side of the forest was the most likely evidence of human activity. For more than two hours, the military helicopter flew over similar scenes: extensive jungle pockmarked by scattered scars of forest destruction. The helicopter also hovered over two long stretches of rocky, rectangular cleared land in the middle of the rainforest.
“[These] are unauthorized airstrips and it appears they are inactive,” said Jeff Morgan, the executive director of Global Conservation, an international organization working to protect endangered ecosystems.
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