An attempt is being made to open up national parks and national and historical sanctuaries under the pretext of attracting greater private investment, which would supposedly increase canon and overcanon revenues for regional and local governments.
Friday, July 4, 2025 – On Wednesday, July 2, Congressman Jorge Luis Flores Ancachi introduced Bill No. 1822/2024-CR, which proposes to amend Peru’s Natural Protected Areas Law (Law No. 26834). If passed, this bill would allow extractive activities in areas currently granted the highest level of protection, such as national parks, national sanctuaries, and historical sanctuaries.
The bill, titled “Bill that Guarantees the Use of Renewable and Non-Renewable Resources to Increase Canon and Overcanon Revenues Aimed at Closing Infrastructure and Social Gaps, by Amending Law No. 26834 – Natural Protected Areas Law (NPAL)”, has been referred to the Energy and Mines Committee and the Committee on Andean, Amazonian, and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, Environment and Ecology.
Environmental Regulatory Setback
Approval of this bill would severely affect the National System of Natural Protected Areas in Peru (SINANPE) and complementary protected areas, as it would allow high-impact extractive activities in all of the country’s protected natural areas. It would subordinate the protection of biodiversity, cultural values, and ecosystem services preserved in these areas to the interests of extractive development.
Additionally, it would legalize hydrocarbon extraction within national parks such as Manu and Bahuaja Sonene, and in historical sanctuaries such as Machu Picchu—areas where current legislation prohibits such activities due to their intangible status, high biodiversity, ecological fragility, and low capacity to recover from high-impact extractive activities.
Who Would Hold Decision-Making Power?
The bill also undermines the institutional framework and the mechanisms for creating and managing SINANPE and regional conservation areas. It grants the Executive Branch (Council of Ministers) the power to modify national and regional protected areas via Supreme Decree, and gives binding technical authority to the Ministries of Production and Energy and Mines regarding the creation, reduction, and management of protected areas, as established in Articles 3, 7, and 20 of the bill.
Declared of National Interest
Under the premise of closing gaps, the bill also proposes to declare as a matter of national interest the execution of hydrocarbon exploration and exploitation projects and/or the expansion of natural gas infrastructure in Peru’s Amazonian regions (Loreto, Ucayali, Madre de Dios, San Martín, Pasco, Huánuco, and Puno). However, the bill lacks a solid technical and economic basis to support the feasibility of this proposal, and disregards the significant contribution of protected natural areas to economic activities such as tourism and to the food security of local populations.
A clear example is the Camisea gas project, which after 20 years has yet to deliver gas to the Cusco region—where it is extracted—or to surrounding communities. Meanwhile, 50% of the extracted resource continues to be exported, without prioritizing or demonstrating any commitment to meeting domestic demand.
Unconstitutional
Furthermore, this bill would violate Article 68 of the Political Constitution of Peru, which establishes that the State must promote the conservation of biological diversity and protected natural areas.
Lastly, this bill would place Peru in breach of several international commitments, including the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands, the Bonn Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals, among others.
It is worth noting that in June 2023, the Ministry of Energy and Mines and Perupetro attempted to amend the Natural Protected Areas Law through another bill, a proposal that was deemed unviable in a technical report by the Ministry of the Environment.
*Press release translated into English using artificial intelligence.