Ecobreves – PERU:: Autonomy Sought for Amazon Institute

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LIMA, Nov 18 2003 (IPS) - Indigenous and environmental groups, universities and officials in the eastern Peruvian region of Selva are asking Congress to restore the autonomy of the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP), which in July was made into an agency of the Ministry of Production. The IIAP was created in 1981 to promote research geared towards self-sustained development, conservation of natural resources and improvement of living standards of the people in the Amazon region, and is an international reference point for scientific knowledge of the area rain forests.

According to IIAP president Dennis del Castillo, the problem is “the central government's interest in managing the resources that are provided by international aid” to the institute's five regional centers in Selva.

“In becoming part of the state bureaucracy, the IIAP will lose technical-scientific credibility and will turn into an agency of political jobs,” he says.