A new law recognizing the land ownership rights of Peru’s native inhabitants sets an important regional precedent.

In February, after a legal battle lasting nearly two decades, little-known indigenous communities in Ecuador’s Amazon region won a multi-billion dollar landmark ruling against the oil giant Chevron. The company was accused of polluting a large part of the Amazon basin by dumping billions of litres of chemical-laden materials, which campaigners said destroyed crops, killed livestock and increased cancer rates among the local population.