Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Puerto Maldonado (Agenzia Fides) - Destruction of nature, the exclusion of indigenous people from social life, human trafficking: these are some of the effects of the extraction of natural resources in South eastern Peru documented in the scientific research thanks to the initiatives of the Jose Pio Aza Cultural Center of the Dominican missionaries in Peru, with the support of the Secretariat for the "Selvas Amazonicas" (Amazon forests) Missions.
The results of the research, collected in the e-book "Extraction of wood, gold and gas in the southern Peruvian Amazon: Impacts and controversies", describe and analyze the socio-cultural, economic and environmental impact with regards to the methods used in the extraction and exploitation of natural resources. A description of the objective data - reports a note sent to Agenzia Fides – is accompanied by the critical evaluation expressed by the Dominican missionaries on the effects of such reckless exploitation of natural resources on the life of the population.
The work also highlights the pastoral response expressed by the Apostolic Vicariate of Puerto Maldonado and the Dominican missionaries, who faced with the risks and emergencies triggered by the uncontrolled exploitation of natural resources – says the note sent to Fides - have given priority to the protection of life, liberty and dignity of "the most vulnerable and disadvantaged social groups". (CE) (Agenzia Fides 13/12/2014)
