Amazon Indigenous Groups Fight New Law That Would Allow Foreign Companies On Their Land

Meanwhile, as the debate over consultation rages on, the Asháninka and Awajún face the prospect of at least 20 dams planned for the Marañón River alone, making the hotly debated particulars of the new law a matter of life and death. Likewise, in the Andean north, the massive $4.8 billion Conga mine project remains at a standstill over similar concerns. The U.S. company Newmont Mining’s gold and copper mine near Cajamarca would destroy alpine lakes and wetlands above several watersheds that eventually drain to the Amazon River. Residents say they were not properly consulted—they did not have enough time or technical expertise to analyze the project or fully participate in the process that led to the project’s approval by the Peruvian government of former President Alan Garcia in 2010.
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/04/16/amazon-indigenous-groups-fight-new-law-that-would-allow-foreign-companies-on-their-land-108009