Peru is set to embark on a major expansion of gas operations in the Camisea region in the Amazon – a move which could decimate Indigenous peoples, both those in ‘voluntary isolation’ and others in the early stages of contact.

Operations in Camisea – in a concession known as Lot 88 in the Cusco region in south-east Peru – are run by a consortium headed by Pluspetrol and including Repsol-YPF and Hunt Oil. The bulk of this Lot (74% ) overlaps the Kugapakori-Nahua-Nanti Reserve, which was created in 1990 for ‘isolated’ peoples and in a bid supposedly intended to prohibit companies from operating there.