Below, please find the non-technical summary of the ESDD carried out in Manu-Purus.
Background
Manu-Purus program is managed by the Frankfurt Zoological Society (FZS). The program area is composed of Manu National Park, Alto Purus National Park with the overlapping Mashco Piro Indigenous Reserve, Purus Communal Reserve, Murunahua Indigenous Reserve, Madre de Dios Territorial Reserve, Kugapakori, Nahua, Nanti and other territorial reserves. The total program area covers 66,956 km², with Manu and Alto Purus National Parks accounting for 42,269 km².
From January to July 2023, Asesoramiento Ambiental Estratégico (AAE), a consulting firm specialized in environmental and social assessments in Latin America, conducted environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) for Legacy Landscapes Fund (LLF) in the Manu-Purus landscape, Peru. For further details on Manu-Purus legacy landscape (LL) please consult the program page.
Methodology
The ESDD began with an initial document review and was further refined with information obtained from remote interviews and two site visits involving two national specialists to the program area beginning and end of March 2023. Key stakeholders, including governmental institutions, NGOs, Indigenous Peoples and local community organizations and native and peasant communities were identified with FZS’s support and assessed by different methods including focus groups and workshops.
Main Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts
The program’s most significant risks include insufficient engagement with key stakeholders and the potential to aggravate inequality and conflicts, especially among indigenous peoples. These risks arise from the absence of a comprehensive stakeholder engagement plan, including an FPIC (free, prior, and informed consent) protocol for consultations where State FPIC is not mandated. Additionally, there is a need to enforce protection and monitoring of indigenous peoples living in isolation.
In light of ongoing illegal activity in the area, the program faces legacy and contextual security risks affecting park rangers, other protected area staff, as well as communities. There have been reports of incidents involving Indigenous Peoples living in isolation in the Manu-Purus LL, some of them resulting in fatalities or prompting relocations among Indigenous groups. Contextual environmental threats in the program area exist, such as overgrazing, slash-and-burn practices or land renting, and illicit crops and drug trafficking pose significant problems.
ESDD Categorization
Manu-Purus LL has been classified as a category B+ (substantial risk) program by the ESDD carried out by AAE consulting. Contextual risks were classified as B+ (substantial), whereas risks related to funded program activities were categorized as B (moderate), resulting in a B+ overall risk category.
Foreseen Mitigation Measures as per ESAP
Manu-Purus’ environmental and social action plan (ESAP) spells out detailed actions to tackle the program’s significant risks. Activities to highlight include: the development of a program-level Free, Prior, and Informed Consent Protocol with an external expert, a stakeholder engagement plan, the establishment of clear commitments to IPLCs, the adoption and socialization protocols to avoid unwanted encounters with Indigenous Peoples living in voluntary isolation, the development of a grievance redress mechanism, and the development of a law enforcement risk assessment with external expert support.
For more information, please consult the following links:
