Indigenous peoples of South America have been pushed out of their sacred lands since the start of colonization. But in the last 75 years, we have seen a dramatic increase in mass migration from rural to urban areas.
Without formal deeds to the land that tribal families have been living on for thousands of years, there is nothing in the way for the government to sell off tribal land to private buyers. Who then uses the land for logging, palm growing, etc.
Many people of the Shipibo Conibo tribe have been forced to flee into cities like Lima. But without basic resources, and infrastructure, tribal people are left with no support. “The issue of housing and land titles is common across South America, where mass migration to urban areas has led to some 113 million people - or nearly one in five people - living in slums.”
Across South America, poverty-stricken neighbourhoods are crammed together and go without basic utilities. Shacks are built using scraps of metal, plastic, wood, and are hazardly built on steep hillsides.