Logger operating near isolated Peru tribe gets certification suspended

LIMA (Reuters) - An international forestry group has suspended the sustainability certification of a logging company operating on land near an uncontacted tribe in Peru's Amazon, the NGO Survival International said on Monday, handing an initial victory to groups demanding a stop to logging in the area.

The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) withdrew its certification of the Canales Tahuamanu company for eight months after members of the Mashco Piro tribe were seen in late June in a remote area of the Madre de Dios region of Peru, the NGO said.

It said the FSC certification would be suspended from Sept. 13 while the forestry group investigates the case and meets with Peruvian authorities to "understand the land classification issues" in the Andean country.

Peru's government and Canales Tahuamanu did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The Mascho Piru are fleeing their shelters to escape from loggers who have forestry concessions granted by the authorities, according to indigenous organizations in Peru.

According to the FSC and Peru's Forest and Wildlife Resources Supervisory Agency, the Canales Tahuamanu logging company has concessions on almost 53,000 hectares of forest in Madre de Dios where it extracts cedar and mahogany.

"This is an important step, but not the final one," Julio Cusurichi, a member of the indigenous organization AIDESEP, said in the statement from Survival International. "We will continue fighting with the same strength until we achieve a historic victory in favor of the rights of the people."

(Report by Marco Aquino; Writing by Alexander Villegas, editing by Deepa Babington)

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