Peru restores Nazca Lines protection after backlash over mining risk
LIMA - Peru's government has abandoned a plan that reduced the size of a protected area around the country's ancient Nazca Lines, it said on Sunday, after criticism the change made them vulnerable to the impact of informal mining operations.
Peru's Culture Ministry in a statement said it was reinstating with immediate effect the protected area covering 5,600 square kilometers (2162.17 square miles), that in late May had been cut back to 3,200 square kilometers. The government said at the time the decision was based on studies that had more precisely demarcated areas with "real patrimonial value".
The remote Nazca region located roughly 400 km (250 miles) south of Lima contains hundreds of pre-Hispanic artifacts and its plateau is famous for the Nazca Lines, where over 800 giant desert etchings of animals, plants and geometric figures were created more than 1,500 years ago. UNESCO declared them a World Heritage site in 1994.
A technical panel of government representatives, archaeologists, academics and members of international organizations, including UNESCO, will work together to build consensus on a future proposal for zoning and land use in the area, the Culture Ministry's statement said.
According to figures from the Peruvian Ministry of Energy and Mines, 362 small-scale gold miners operate in the Nazca district under a program to regularize their status. Authorities have previously conducted operations against illegal mining in the area. REUTERS
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