Today, Administrator Samantha Power arrived in Puerto Maldonado, Peru - the gateway city to the southern Peruvian Amazon. She began the day with an airplane fly-over to view the effects of deforestation and illegal gold mining in the region. Each year, Peru loses the equivalent of more than 43,000 soccer fields to illegal mining, an activity which is both highly destructive to the environment and which also perpetuates a cycle of illicit activities, including trafficking in persons.
Administrator Power then visited the USAID-funded Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation (CINCIA) lab, hosted by the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute. CINCIA is dedicated to cutting-edge scientific research into forest recovery efforts, as well as better understanding and disseminating the health and environmental impacts of mercury and other pollutants caused by illegal gold mining. The Administrator spoke with CINCIA scientists and former Peruvian miners about their successful experiences with reforesting mine-affected areas and the need to scale these efforts further.
The Administrator then met with Kichwa and Amahuaca Indigenous leaders who have partnered with USAID to help protect the environment and create sustainable economic opportunities. The group shared their perspectives on the importance of Indigenous leadership and Indigenous voices in efforts to address environmental harms, and discussed challenges facing Indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon, including environmental crimes, illegal logging, attacks on Indigenous environmental defenders, and limited economic alternatives to illegal mining.
Administrator Power concluded the day by joining national and regional Indigenous leaders to announce USAID's new Indigenous Defenders Justice initiative to support the efforts of local Indigenous Peoples organizations and government authorities to seek justice for crimes against Indigenous communities and uphold the fundamental rights of environmental defenders in the Amazon.
