63 332 physical integrity. These rights are directly affected when there are episodes or situations of deforestation, contamination of the water, pollution, or other types of environmental harm on their 333 ancestral territories. 234. The IACHR considers that the States have the duty to adopt measures to prevent harm to the environment in indigenous and tribal territories and to adopt the measures necessary to protect the habitat of the indigenous communities, taking into account the special characteristics of indigenous peoples, and the special and unique relationship that they have with their ancestral territories and natural resources found therein. In adopting these measures, as the IACHR has pointed out, the states should place “special emphasis on protecting the forests and waters, which are fundamental for their health and 334 survival as communities.” Similarly, the IACHR has previously expressed that States are under an obligation to control and prevent illegal extractive activities such as logging, fishing, and illegal mining on 335 indigenous or tribal ancestral territories, and to investigate and punish those responsible. 235. The IACHR observes that along these same lines the Constitution of Panama prohibits, at Article 127, the private appropriation of indigenous lands, and that the legal provisions referring to recognition of the collective property rights of indigenous peoples exists in the Panamanian domestic legal order. It also notes that the Panamanian legal order includes legal provisions that protect forest resources and allow for the imposition of sanctions for illegal logging and environmental harm, in particular the Forestry Law of February 3, 1994, and the General Law on the Environment of July 1, 336 1998. 236. In light of the foregoing considerations the IACHR considers that the State of Panama was under the international obligation to prevent the invasion and illegal logging, and to effectively protect the territory and natural resources of the alleged victims. In the instant case, the indigenous peoples Kuna of the Madungandí and the Emberá of Bayano and their members constantly and consistently denounced that settlers were continuously appropriating their territories, and that non-indigenous persons were engaged in the logging and illegal extraction of timber and other natural resources, resulting in environmental degradation due to deforestation. 237. The indigenous inhabitants informed the state authorities of these facts in timely fashion, in different forums. In particular, successive agreements were signed whereby the State acquired formal commitments in which the state authorities announced that they would perform the work of controlling the invasion of the territory and the illegal extraction of timber.337 Nonetheless, it was not shown before the IACHR that those actions had been adopted in an effective manner proportional to the dimension of the invasion of settlers, and to the serious danger of deforestation caused by the irregular loggers in their territories. 332 IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Ecuador. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.96, Doc. 10 rev.1, April 24, 1997. 333 See IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Ecuador. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.96, Doc. 10 rev.1, April 24, 1997. IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Ecuador. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.96, Doc. 10 rev.1, April 24, 1997. IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Ecuador. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.96, Doc. 10 rev.1, April 24, 1997. IACHR – The Situation of Human Rights in Cuba, Seventh Report. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.61, Doc.29 rev. 1, October 4, 1983, paras. 1, 2, 41, 60, 61. 334 IACHR, Third Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Paraguay. Doc. OEA/Ser./L/VII.110, Doc. 52, March 9, 2001, Chapter IX, paras. 38, 50 – Recommendation 8. 335 IACHR, Report on the Situation of Human Rights in Brazil. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II.97, Doc. 29 rev. 1, September 29, 1997, para. 33; IACHR, Democracy and Human Rights in Venezuela, 2009. Doc. OEA/Ser.L/V/II, Doc. 54, December 30, 2009. 336 Article 98 of the General Law on the Environment provides: “The right of the comarcas and indigenous peoples in relation to the use, management, and sustainable traditional tapping of the renewable natural resources situated within the comarcas or indigenous reserves created by law is recognized. These resources must be used in keeping with the purposes of environmental protection and conservation established in the Constitution, this Law, and all other national laws.” 337 See Annex 30. Agreement of March 23, 1990. Annex 18 to petitioners’ initial petition of May 11, 2000; Annex 29. Resolution No. 4 issued by the Director of the Corporation dated March 16, 1989. Annex 17 to petitioners’ initial petition of May 11, 2000; and Annex 10 to the State’s communication of June 29, 2001. Annex 11. Final assessment document of the Mesa de Concertación of the Bayano Zone, July 2, 1999. Annex 31 to petitioners’ initial petition of May 11, 2000. p. 25.