<p class="title">The Amazon's Amahuaca people braved marauding rubber tappers a century ago and now face a new threat to their survival as gold mines and oil wells increasingly encircle their jungle home.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They and other indigenous communities have gone to court to protect their rainforest habitat and keep mining and oil projects off their lands.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But activists here fear legal constraints will only delay defeat in their long conflict with miners.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In June, Amahuaca villagers in Boca Pariamanu, in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon basin region, celebrated a rare legal victory. A court recognized their claim to more than 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres) of the rainforest, after years of conflict with chestnut producers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Title deeds to the land are key in a wider battle over Amazon resources, said community leader Julio Rolin.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We need to be able to monitor the land and not be invaded by mining, by illegal logging or invasions by settlers," Rolin told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Amahuaca is one of 38 indigenous communities scattered throughout the Madre de Dios river basin, seen as the epicentre of illegal mining in Peru -- the world's fifth-largest gold producer.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Indigenous umbrella organization Fenamed warns of a wider threat.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Despite the Amahauca's landmark legal victory, the state has altogether granted mining concessions on land occupied by 11 of the 38 local communities.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Under Peruvian law, the state retains the rights to the subsoil of indigenous land, so the government retains the right to grant exploration licenses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We demand that rights not be granted to third parties in the territories of indigenous peoples," Renamed president Julio Cusurichi said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Boca Pariamanu is accessible only by dugout canoe, two hours from regional capital Puerto Maldonado, and much of the illegal mining here take place without fear of censure.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Mines contaminate the water, there are no more fish. And it destroys the forest," says Adela Ajahuana, a 23-year old indigenous Arazaire woman.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She fears it is only a matter of time before the mines destroy her own community.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Across the brown Pariamanu river, deforestation has gouged out vast areas of rainforest, with mud craters left behind by prospecting miners.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mechanical diggers and gold dredgers rumble constantly in the distance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government has cracked down on illegal mining high up in the Andes, sending troops to dismantle the wildcat mining town of La Pampa -- a mountain outpost that mushroomed in 2008 at the height of the global economic crisis when the demand for gold was at its highest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the move failed to reassure local Amazon communities.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There were 30,000 people living there. Where will they go? They will go to other parts of the indigenous territories," said Cusurichi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Across the border in the Bolivian Amazon area of Tacana II, a surge of state-supported oil exploration has alarmed locals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Our fear is that this is going to destroy our forest," said Juana Ramirez, a young woman from Las Mercedes, one of Tacana II's four scattered villages that are only accessible by boat.</p>.<p class="bodytext">President Evo Morales, who is seeking a fourth term next month, is supporting a mining project that will extract 50 million barrels of oil, as well as large quantities of natural gas.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We could have said no to it, but there are very strong pressure from the state, very strong threats," said Ronaldo Justiniano, head of the territory.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Prospecting began in 2018, after three years of tough negotiations between the Tacanas and the national oil company YPFB.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tacana II got nearly 500,000 dollars to compensate for environmental damage caused by the prospecting, or $500 per thousand inhabitants.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the money "is no compensation for the wealth we have on our territory," said Justiniano, visibly concerned over what may unfold here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For now, he says his community is relieved to have managed to protect its chestnut trees, which reach a height of 50 meters (160 feet).</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chesnut gathering is an important source of income for the tribe between January and April.</p>
<p class="title">The Amazon's Amahuaca people braved marauding rubber tappers a century ago and now face a new threat to their survival as gold mines and oil wells increasingly encircle their jungle home.</p>.<p class="bodytext">They and other indigenous communities have gone to court to protect their rainforest habitat and keep mining and oil projects off their lands.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But activists here fear legal constraints will only delay defeat in their long conflict with miners.</p>.<p class="bodytext">In June, Amahuaca villagers in Boca Pariamanu, in the heart of the Peruvian Amazon basin region, celebrated a rare legal victory. A court recognized their claim to more than 4,000 hectares (9,884 acres) of the rainforest, after years of conflict with chestnut producers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Title deeds to the land are key in a wider battle over Amazon resources, said community leader Julio Rolin.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We need to be able to monitor the land and not be invaded by mining, by illegal logging or invasions by settlers," Rolin told AFP.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The Amahuaca is one of 38 indigenous communities scattered throughout the Madre de Dios river basin, seen as the epicentre of illegal mining in Peru -- the world's fifth-largest gold producer.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Indigenous umbrella organization Fenamed warns of a wider threat.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Despite the Amahauca's landmark legal victory, the state has altogether granted mining concessions on land occupied by 11 of the 38 local communities.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Under Peruvian law, the state retains the rights to the subsoil of indigenous land, so the government retains the right to grant exploration licenses.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We demand that rights not be granted to third parties in the territories of indigenous peoples," Renamed president Julio Cusurichi said.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Boca Pariamanu is accessible only by dugout canoe, two hours from regional capital Puerto Maldonado, and much of the illegal mining here take place without fear of censure.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Mines contaminate the water, there are no more fish. And it destroys the forest," says Adela Ajahuana, a 23-year old indigenous Arazaire woman.</p>.<p class="bodytext">She fears it is only a matter of time before the mines destroy her own community.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Across the brown Pariamanu river, deforestation has gouged out vast areas of rainforest, with mud craters left behind by prospecting miners.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Mechanical diggers and gold dredgers rumble constantly in the distance.</p>.<p class="bodytext">The government has cracked down on illegal mining high up in the Andes, sending troops to dismantle the wildcat mining town of La Pampa -- a mountain outpost that mushroomed in 2008 at the height of the global economic crisis when the demand for gold was at its highest.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the move failed to reassure local Amazon communities.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"There were 30,000 people living there. Where will they go? They will go to other parts of the indigenous territories," said Cusurichi.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Across the border in the Bolivian Amazon area of Tacana II, a surge of state-supported oil exploration has alarmed locals.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"Our fear is that this is going to destroy our forest," said Juana Ramirez, a young woman from Las Mercedes, one of Tacana II's four scattered villages that are only accessible by boat.</p>.<p class="bodytext">President Evo Morales, who is seeking a fourth term next month, is supporting a mining project that will extract 50 million barrels of oil, as well as large quantities of natural gas.</p>.<p class="bodytext">"We could have said no to it, but there are very strong pressure from the state, very strong threats," said Ronaldo Justiniano, head of the territory.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Prospecting began in 2018, after three years of tough negotiations between the Tacanas and the national oil company YPFB.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Tacana II got nearly 500,000 dollars to compensate for environmental damage caused by the prospecting, or $500 per thousand inhabitants.</p>.<p class="bodytext">But the money "is no compensation for the wealth we have on our territory," said Justiniano, visibly concerned over what may unfold here.</p>.<p class="bodytext">For now, he says his community is relieved to have managed to protect its chestnut trees, which reach a height of 50 meters (160 feet).</p>.<p class="bodytext">Chesnut gathering is an important source of income for the tribe between January and April.</p>