Coca eradication programs endanger parts of the Peruvian Amazon

Coca plantations in Peru are encroaching the Peruvian Amazon’s protected areas. And indigenous communities are watching their forests disappear. This video is about the Sepahua river, where half a dozen tribes live. “Invaders” are gradually making their way into tribal reserves.

Many of the communities moving to this region come from a region known for cocaine production. For decades, communities have been pushed out of the Andean foothills by coca eradication programs.
In the last 20 years, migration from the Andean foothills has grown rapidly.
The Peruvian government has helped farmers transition to legal crops, like cacao and coffee…

But coca cultivation continues, especially since coffee prices have dipped.
Increasingly, coca is being farmed in remote forested areas, out of sight and hard to access.
And threatening communities living around the Sepahua river.


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