Six farmers shot dead over land rights battle in Peru

6th Sep 2017 | Categories: Land Rights, Plantations

Some fear the emergence of palm oil in the central Amazon region will fuel a surge in land grabbing, violence and deforestation. (Photo: Jason Edwards/Alamy Stock Photo)

Six farmers have been shot dead by a criminal gang who wanted to seize their farms to muscle in on the lucrative palm oil trade, according to indigenous Amazon leaders in Peru.

Local leaders in the central Amazon region of Ucayali say the victims were targeted last Friday because they had refused to give up their land.

Observers fear the emergence of palm oil will fuel a new surge in land grabbing, violence and deforestation. Yet the Peruvian government is promoting expansion, claiming its cultivation will not threaten forests. At a UN climate change summit in September 2014, Peru signed a $300m (£191m) deal with Norway to reduce net deforestation to zero by 2021.

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Related Project:

Land Grabs and Land Rights

The Territories of Life toolkit is a series of 10 short videos that share stories of resistance, resilience and hope with communities on the front-line of the global rush for land. These videos, available in English, Spanish, French, Indonesian and Swalhili and are currently being disseminated widely by community facilitators.

Oil Palm

LifeMosaic, in partnership with Friends of the Earth and Sawit Watch, coordinated a project aimed at bringing critical information about the impacts of oil palm to communities in plantation expansion areas, enabling them to make informed decisions about their lands and their futures.