"LIMA - A Peruvian judge ruled that the government exclude an indigenous region of the Amazon near the border with Brazil from any oil exploration and exploitation, a legal group said on Wednesday, in a win for native communities that have long fought against oil and mining projects on their land.

The decision, announced by the Institute of Legal Defense (IDL), which advised on the case, came after a 2017 lawsuit by the Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the East demanded that the government and state energy agency Perupetro suspend authorizations to allow the development of three oil lots in the Loreto region, located in Peru’s northern Amazon.

The IDL said the judge asked Peru to establish a strict protection zone around the area."

Maria Cervantes and Cassandra Garrison report for Reuters January 22, 2020. [2]