A new coalition of Amazonian indigenous groups and environmentalists has come together in Peru to demand oversight and accountability in the development of a huge new hydrocarbon exploitation bloc in the rainforest. The China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC [11]) won exploitation rights [12] in 2017 at Bloc 58, in the Upper Urubamba zone of Cuzco region, after explorations revealed [13] some 3.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, enough to increase Peru's total gas reserves by nearly 28%. But Bloc 58 overlaps with the traditional territories of the Asháninka [14] and Matsigenka (Machiguenga [15]) indigenous peoples, and is near the indigenous communities of Tangoshiari [14], Kirigueti [17], and Kochiri. It additionally overlaps with the "buffer zones" (zonas de amortiguamiento) of the Asháninka Communal Reserve, the Machiguenga Communal Reserve, Megantoni National Sanctuary [18] and Otishi National Park [19].
The regional indigenous organizations ORPIO [20], CORPI [21], ORAU [22], COMARU [23] and AIDESEP [24] have joined with the Lima-based group Law, Environment & Natural Resources (DAR [25]) to form the Amazon Indigenous Platform for Monitoring Chinese Investment in Peru. Its first priorty is Bloc 58, demanding that exploitation proceed there only in compliance with the internationally recognized [26] right to "prior and informed consent" of impacted indigenous peoples, as officially guaranteed by Peru's Prior Consultation Law [27]. In a letter [28] to the Chinese Embassy in Lima last October, the new Platform called for revisions to China's Free Trade Agreement [29] with Peru recognizing the right to prior consultation in any development activity. (Global Voices [30], June 7; GREFI [31], April 2020)
CNPC, one of the world's largest [32] oil and gas companies, and has a growing footprint in Latin America, with operations in Venezuela [33], Bolivia [34] and Brazil [35].