My new book is now published and available here in Paperback and Kindle
This book provides a fresh perspective on the exponential rise in depression and suicide in modern western society. It’s an alternative book for alternative people who have tried conventional medicine or who aren’t interested in treating depression with allopathic options, and who are open to trying other options. Scientists have studied depression is in fact a normal response to a global environmental destruction, with growing scientific peer reviewed papers that confirm our degrading environment affects our mental health. There is an urgent need for humanity to reconnect with nature and change society to become more environmentally friendly. The author offers advice on how to manage depression better with nutritional advice and controversial health hacks, recommended lifestyle changes including learning the art of living after surviving grief, deep trauma, and loss.
The aim is to help the reader see their depression as a calling to look within, connect with their truer inner being and begin to nurture themselves spiritually, mentally and emotionally. Furthermore, this book invites the reader to consider their own place in human evolution and redefine their lost purpose to one that is more aligned to Ecology than to Western Materialism, to become self-empowered, not a victim of depression. We look at talk therapies and radical new alternative therapies for managing depression in a challenging world.
Contents-
Introduction
Poem-Faithful Black Dog
Chapter One- I am Not my Story
Poem-The Exiled Dissidents
Chapter Two-Corporate devolution vs Ecology
Poem-My Friend, My Shadow
Chapter Three-A Brief History of Depression
Poem-The Thief
Chapter Four- The Art of Living
Poem-The Heart’s Compass
Chapter Five- Gluten Free Living, Health the Gut, Heal the Mind
Poem-Patented Flower in a Planet Sized Laboratory
Chapter Six- Health Hacks to Avoid Inflammation and Depression
Poem-Beat Your Drum
Chapter Seven- A Look at Different Talk Therapies
Poem-Illusions of Polarities
Chapter Eight- The Therapeutic Benefits of Entheogens and CBD oil
Poem–Merging Galaxies
Chapter Nine- The Noosphere, Consciousness and Biosphere
Carlita is an independent environmental journalist and project developer who provides information overlooked by mainstream journalism funded by political agendas, since Carlita has worked closely with indigenous groups in Latin America for the last fifteen years.
After a state of emergency was declared in Ecuador, with two weeks of intense demonstrations in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, Ecuadorian protestors have released ten police and thirty journalists, who were reportedly taken hostage by activist groups, in the midst of violent outbreaks during demonstrations against IMF austerity pressures on the Ecuadorian government, namely the reason why oil subsidies were being withdrawn,
Before being liberated later that evening, some of the police officers were made to carry the coffin of a protestor, named Inocencio Tucumbí, whose coffin was taken to the city centre, Inocencio died after being hit by a tear gas canister fired by the police at a protest last Wednesday.
Getty
Three other protestors have lost their lives during the protests and over 650 protestors have been arrested.
President Moreno had to move the government out of Quito to Guayaquil, Lenín Moreno has agreed to reassess the subsidies, but not necessarily repeal them.
This is not just about subsidies and the IMF, it is a reaction to the growing awareness by the people of Ecuador, that their country has been bought out by politicians and corporations, heavily exploited. As a result Ecuador now carries heavy debt.
Indigenous people are tired of the exploits of oil companies continuing to ignore the laws and rights of indigenous people. For over a century, oil and mining companies continue to ignoring the rights of indigenous people, accordingto Ecuadorian law, they are to seek prior consultation to any indigenous community that their activities may affect. They need to seek prior notice before going into an area of indigenous territory in the Amazon and exploiting the area for oil or mining. However, most oil and mining companies continue to ignore that indigenous communities exist, and that the ancestral lands belong to in the Amazon people, not for the Ecuadorian governments to allow corporations to enter, for oil, for gold, uranium and so on, this has continued to increase intensively, without international intervention or help, similarly the same is happening in Peru and Brazil where the middle of the rain forests have seen devastating gold mining expansion over thousands of hectares of Amazon rainforest have been turned to deserts this year .
In Ecuador, indigenous communties are strong and resistence affects the country immediately. Unfortunately, for Moreno, he took on Ecuador after the prior president Rafael Correa left a messy legacy behind. Correa squeezed all the money he could steal, out of the Ecuadorian economy.
Rafael Correa sold Ecuador out completely just before April 2017 Elections, while he was in government, he did a lot of back handed deals, one such deal was while he was running the Yasuni campaign to keep the oil in the ground, behind closed doors, he secretly made oil deals with Chinese oil companies while pretending to the public he wanted to conserve Yasuni National Park. Promptly after Moreno was elected, Rafael Correa immediately left for Brussels.
Two years before PetroAmazonia oil bonds were sold in the New York Stock Market, Correa’s government denounced the 10 per cent in annual interest the country paid on its bonds as “usury in 2015.” So when the 51-year-old former economics professor was only willing to pay 10.5 per cent in a sale of notes back then, it raised speculation the Opec nation may be running short of cash after oil prices collapsed. Before the March 19 sale 2015, Correa told potential buyers it wanted to pay less than 8 per cent to borrow at least US$1 billion for as long as seven years. Instead, the Andean nation got just US$750 million for five years at yields that were more than two percentage points higher. The sale “indicates that they are running into trouble,” said Sarah Glendon, an economist at Gramercy Funds Management.
Moreno and the people of Ecuador are paying this price, and Moreno is under a lot of pressure to try and find a solution to the mess. However, the ramifications are worse for the indigenous people and so as it is nearing 2020, when the debts of U.S.$315,339,980, has to be paid back at least
4.625% of notes are due by 2020, the pressure on Ecuadorian people and the government is worse than ever, what will Moreno do to compromise for the people of Ecuador? Times have already been hard on the Ecuadorian economy after Ecuador had to spend a lot of money rebuilding important infrastructure recovering from the 7.8 Earthquake in 2016.
Many indigenous people over the last three years have been greatly pressured and exploited as oil and mining activities expand an develop exponentially in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Since this means more destruction of the Amazon, to be exploited by oil companies such as Petro Amazonas and other oil companies for exploitation and drilling, as this debt needs to be paid back by next year, 2020 and these notes were borrowed on Petro Amazonas assets, one of the driving destroyers of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
How could the concept of Natural Capital help Ecuador reclaim economic autonomy?
Ecuador has more than half the world’s biodiversity found in the Amazon rainforest, in terms of Natural Capital, there is a great deal of value in the Amazon that could wipe out all of Ecuador’s world debt.
Today, biodiversity rich areas of the world are a critically endangered and a limited natural resource. We are living in the Sixth greatest mass extinction, because of our addiction to oil and wealth in terms of short term gain, this drastically affects how we manage biodiversity. It is an apocalypse happening in slow motion which affects all of the earth’s biodiversity which took 3.8 billion years of evolution to form. This extinction differs from previous extinctions, in that it is caused by humans, not by natural causes, as we are the cause, we can also slow it down or prevent it, if we make big changes. While governments are aware of this and we continue to accelerate it, each year, and this affects every single species and ecosystem on the planet, nothing is being done to protect biodiversity, instead twenty years on from my environmental science degree, it is disheartening to see environmental laws have become greately weakened as politicians are the stakeholders of lobbying corporations and are legally bribed to rewrite laws for backhanded payments. According to recent scientific data, animals and plants are disappearing at a rate of between 75 and 150 species per day. There may be no rain forest left in twenty years from now, nor fish in the ocean in ten years time and over half the world will have a water crisis, fifteen years from now. Bees are our most important crop pollinators and are fast disappearing and the rate of deforestation and ocean pollution is destroying these keystone ecosystems, which are drastically affected by man’s own actions. As most people are ecologically illiterate, we negate the goods and services and value these natural resources and the wealth they generate or the species that also contribute to the work of ecological goods and services.
Look at Africa, the natural capital if given monetary value would make it the richest country in the world in terms of natural resources. Western society must live more within our ecologically realistic limitations, consume less and live more sustainably. We agree that predatory capitalism equals exploitation, and thrives from growing centralized power structures. This is part of its subjective characteristics and results in a few countries having more power, wealth and opportunities than the rest of the world, which is the cancer of this growing disparity between the first world nations and ”third world nations”, which were originally ancient first world superpowers in the story of ancient history.
Natural Capital is a concept that was explored nearly 20 years ago now, pilot projects have been quietly funded by the United Nations to see how we can value nature and biodiversity for policy makers. The World Resource Institute (WRI) estimates the value of ecosystem services to be US $33 trillion a year, nearly twice the value of the global gross national product (GNP) of US $18 trillion. The US is also in debt by 17 trillion dollars, if the US switched to an economy based on natural capital, the financial value tied up in its natural capital would take care of this debt. In the same way that a banknote is a promissory note against the gold or silver that has been deposited in the bank, ecological economists are seeing how we can start to put the same value onto ecosystems and the role of species in ecosystem production; another example would be the 80 percent of oxygen generated by algae and microbial activity in the oceans. Hypothetically, the value of the work done in existing ecosystems could regenerate local economies and increase the wealth and monetary value of nature globally, simply by ensuring its conservation and existence by using initiatives similar to the TEEB Economic of Ecosystems and Biodiversity model if we took it to a community level to decentralize governmental powers and management of our natural resources.
Nature’s ecological banking system could be a way to revolutionise our world and local economies and transfer wealth from an oil-based economy to an ecology-based economy, this wealth would provide poor countries with enough ecological economy that global debt would become a thing of the past. This starts on a local level, worldwide, which would regenerate and allow local communities to have better control over their own natural resources, protecting and managing them from over-exploitation of previously decentralised management of resources, which could be prevented, if corporate social responsibility pays a tax to the natural capital destroyed and when more is taken out of the ecosystems and Natural Capital, than is put into them, this crucially needs to be taken into account in order to gain more balance.
In terms of flipping this over to give people power instead of governments, we could make local land trusts run by the local communities which protect thousands of hectares of rain forest for the future preservation of biodiversity and translate the value to cryptocurrency rather than fiat, which is centralized and controlled by governments, whereas cryptocurrency is not. Ecuador, Peru, Brazil,Bolivia, Venezuela and Colombia would be infinitely more wealthy because these countries are where the Amazon basin covers. If we put a value on just one hectare of the Amazon for the biodiversity it holds, or for the oxygen and clean water it produces, or for
Here we provide further steps towards sustainability and increasing power to local communities and protect nature from centralized predatory capitalism exploits:
1. Decentralisation of power in cities and governments, to smaller towns and villages, for local communities to have more say in governance of local resources instead of foreign governments.
2. Improve infrastructures in rural areas for solar and wind technology for self sustainable towns and greener cities, strengthening local infrastructures for alternative fuel systems to make the transition from oil easier, such as make hydrogen fuel cell refuelling stations, along with electric cars more available in every town and city and alternative energy resources for off the grid power generators.
3. Ideally, (because this won’t happen in real world politics), Western governments that currently have central power would return the rights for developing countries the access to manage their own land and natural resources which would remedy starvation, put a stop to corporate land grabs and create a more sustainably balanced structure that is not centralised or controlled by corporations and politicians of the Western World.
4. This is a hard one since those who have the power prefer to keep countries in debt, especially to exploit their resources. -Abolish “third world debt” based on unrealistic inflation agendas for the world powers to control natural resources in ‘poorer’ foreign countries that are actually ‘richer’ in rare minerals and natural resources than most Western countries, we will see how in further paragraphs the Natural Economy in terms of goods and services and biodiversity, can turn the poorest nations into the richest over night and would be used to wipe world debt.
5. Environmental laws need to make corporate exploitations of foreign natural resources a crime, more stringent environmental laws are necessary and no more erosion of these laws by politicians who are corporate pimps bribed to rewrite laws for corporate agendas. Western corporations need to abolish privatisation of water, and land resources in “third world countries”.
6. Return land rights to rural community agriculturalists in developing countries, and locally supporting sustainable agriculture. With localised sustainable farming, there would be an equal distribution of food and grain and where there is poor soil quality implementation of soil restoration projects .
The current global conflicts, we see emerging in both the ecological and economic crisis, is a sign that we need to re-evaluate the global economy that has been built on short-term gain and erroneous decisions of greedy politicians and their corporate partners, with no acknowledgement or regard for nature’s capital, invisible goods, services and production that everyone takes for granted. This completely disregards nature’s capital value. Our view of nature is to see ourselves as separate and above it, a western view that is so engrained in our perception of the world, we don’t think twice about our wasteful consumerist culture. We could start exploring new ways of seeing nature as a valuable investment we need to protect, to preserve biodiversity and the natural balance of ecosystems for the future of humanity.
The indigenous lands of Kayapó, in Pará, house mining fronts with an area equivalent to dozens of soccer fields. Photo from Planet Labs
A significant expansion of illegal Gold mining outbreaks in Amazonian indigenous lands is destroying the rainforest at an accelerated rate in Brazil, which began to emerge since January of this year. This is confirmed by the satellite images analysed by BBC News Brazil.
The indigenous and environmentalists are critically concerned with this development occurring in different parts in the states of Pará and Roraima, in the north of Brazil, the mining activity has increased since the public statements and hate speech of President Jair Bolsonaro against indigenous people and in favour of the exploitation of minerals in indigenous lands and what they consider a weakening in the fight against environmental crimes by the government.
The mining invasion of one of these reserves in the Amazon has also resulted in a murdered indigenous leader of the Wajãpi tribe , which occurred following a plea for help from the leader, that miners had entered their territory with guns and weapons.
The Wajãpi indigenous community who reside in the west of the state of Amapá, reported last Saturday that a group of miners assassinated Emyra Wajãpi last wednesday. The indigenous leader, Wajãpi ´s death was the beginning of an attack to the Mariry village that took place between Friday and Sunday with the invasion of 50 gold seekers to the place.
The Coordination of the indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB) issued a statement condemning the invasions and showing their solidarity with the Wajãpi people.
“The Coordination of the indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB), together with its base organizations on a state, regional and local level, mainly with the APOINAP (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Amapá and Northern Pará Organizations), are here to express publicly their complete solidarity and support for the Waiãpi indigenous people, in lieu of the recent events in which metal seekers invaded their territory, while we express our deep and vehement repulsion towards this kind of action, that has intensified itself, fomented mainly by intransigent and irresponsible, authoritarian, judgemental, arrogant and disrespectful positions of the current government, especially from the president of the republic Jair Bolsonaro, for the attacks he has been making against the rights of the people of this country, especially the territorial rights already guaranteed in completely demarcated and regularized indigenous lands in light of the Constitution of the Federal Government of 1988 and which this government is constantly trying to set back.” – Reported to Latin American News
Opening these ancestral protected lands to mining and other extraction industries such as oil and gas drilling have devastating consequences for indigenous communities and irreversible ecological devastation such as mercury poisoning of the Amazon waterways which people use to fish and bath in.
Previous affected indigenous people were also the Yamomami people in on-going illegal gold extraction in 2013 and before.
The deforestation of the Amazon has accelerated with the arrival of Bolsonaro to the presidency of Brazil, since the president has been encouraging racial discrimination and persecution of indigenous people in the Amazon whose lives and ancestral lands are being destroyed and threatened by mining and oil extraction.
The mine outbreak occurred at a time when the National Space Research Institute (INPE) has claimed that there is a high rate of destruction in the Amazon, which has been questioned by President Bolsonaro, who said the publication of data on deforestation could affect the country’s international negotiations.
The images evaluated by the BBC are from Planet Labs , an American company that orbits more than 100 satellites and takes daily photographs of the world.
Illegal gold mining in the Indigenous Land Kayapó, Pará, in July 2019. The clearest points indicate recent activity.
The activity was monitored in three of the Brazilian indigenous lands that suffer the most illegal gold extraction: Kayapó, Munduruku (both in Pará) and Yanomami (in Roraima and Amazonas). The three territories occupy an area equivalent to that of the state of São Paulo and house some of the most conserved sections of the Brazilian Amazon.
In three Brazilian Amazon territories, there was an increase in these areas of mining extraction to reopen old mines, some created more than a decade ago – and in those created more recently.
The satelite photographs were sent to two satellite imagery specialists: to geologist Carlos Souza Jr. of Imazon (a non-profit organization dedicated to the conservation of the Amazon rainforest); and to the geographer of the business intelligence software Arcplan, Marcos Reis Rosa.
In June, the BBC published a report that showed that in 2019, gold became the second most exported product in the Roraima area , although none of the mines operate legally.
Officials are investigating whether the metal has been illegally extracted from the territory in Yanomami, where, according to the natives, at least 10, 000 miners are currently operating.
The executive coordinator of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib), Sonia Guajajara , says that indigenous people from different parts of the Amazon have reported “an absurd increase” in mining companies since the beginning of the Bolsonaro government, this is due to Bolsonaro´s hate speech against indigenous people and encouragement of mining in these areas, desperation is increasing as Brazil on the verge of recession.
While Bolsonaro served as a federal deputy and, later in his presidential career, he repeatedly said he agreed with the economic exploitation of these territories to improve the living conditions of indigenous communities, but this doesn´t improve their lives or living standards, their land is illegally taken from them and their Amazon waterways and fish are killed and polluted with mercury and other toxic poisons.
The 1988 Constitution provides for the exploitation of minerals in indigenous lands as long as it is regulated. But as laws in this field have never been passed, the activities are continuously illegal.
Since 1996 , Congress has tried to pass a bill to regulate mining in indigenous lands. Now, the Bolsonaro government is trying to unlock the agenda.
However, according to Sonia Guajajara, the vast majority of Brazilian indigenous communities oppose the regulation of the activity because they fear their social and environmental impacts.
At the end of 2018, Amazon’s geo-referenced socio-environmental information network – which brings together eight environmental NGOs from Latin America – published a report on threats to the Amazon. The document identified illegal mining on 18 indigenous lands in Brazil. There is also a prior report written by Jasmine Plummer investigating the environmental laws on this activity and how it affects the from 2007
In some territories, rafts are installed on the Amazon riverways, to look for precious metals in the riverbed. In addition to the rafts, industrial machinery such as backhoes and dredgers form Deforested craters in the forest. This is the case of many of the mines in the Tapajós de Pará region , where satellite images exhibit important “scars” open in the forest.
In addition to logging, the activity causes sedimentation of rivers , diverting their courses and creating artificial lakes that become breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Not by chance, malaria is common in the mining areas of the Amazon.
In some areas the damage is permanent, with no possibility of complete regeneration.
“Scars” caused by the extraction of gold in the Tapajós de Pará region, in an image taken in July 2019.
Gold mining is also associated with an increase in conflict, increasing human trafficking, prostitution and disease in the indigenous areas where it operates.
For forest engineer Paulo Barreto, an associate researcher at Imazon, deforestation in the Amazon has been stimulated not only by Bolsonaro’s statements, but also by the weakening of regulatory environmental agencies.
“It has created a climate where everything and anything goes, and people think it will not be punished,” Barreto told the BBC.
By order of Environment Minister Ricardo Salles, the annual budget of Ibama, the main federal environmental agency, was reduced by US $ 23.57 million this year, a quarter of the total.
The indigenous lands of Kayapó, in Pará, have mining activities which have destroyed with an area equivalent to dozens of football fields.
This week President Bolsonaro was again criticized by environmentalists. After the president insisted that deforestation figures released by the National Space Research Institute (INPE) were a lie and could hamper Brazil’s negotiations with other countries, such as those related to the trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union .
European leaders have expressed concern about the increase in deforestation in Brazil and Bolsonaro’s actions in the environmental sector.
In April, a letter published in the journal Nature signed by 607 scientists and two indigenous organizations criticized the Bolsonaro government for “working to dismantle deforestation policies.”
The signatories of the document denounce that “the new administration of Brazil threatens indigenous rights and natural areas.”
In the words of the Yanomami’s foremost
shaman-activist, Davi Kopenawa Yanomami-
The Earth cannot be split apart as if the forest were just a leftover part. With leftover trees and leftover rivers, leftover game, fish and humans who live there, its breath of life will become too short. That is why we are worried. We shamans simply say we are protecting nature as a whole thing. We defend the forests’ trees, mountains and rivers, its fish, game, spirits and human inhabitants.
The UN defines genocide as “any of the acts perpetrated with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” But the classification of such crimes as genocide or not is partly a matter of the number of victims. While the genocides of Rwanda or Bosnia received global attention, many others that take place outside the visual field of public opinion, especially on the Latin American continent. These are neither investigated nor recognized because they involve rural villages of a few hundred, or even a few dozen people.
Although the agreement on the genocide of the United Nations (UN) Organization came into force 70 years ago, entire tribes continue to be attacked and exterminated by powerful corporations and their dominant society in order to steal their lands and natural resources. In the depths of the Amazon rainforest, one of these native tribes forced to uproot and leave their ancestral land because of this. It is the Kawahivas, a small isolated tribe of a few dozen members, survivors of waves of violent attacks that have brought them to the brink of extinction.
”Their territory, known as Rio Pardo, is in Mato Grosso state, where illegal deforestation rates are the highest on record in Brazil’s Amazon.
Rio Pardo lies within the municipality of Colniza, one of the most violent areas in Brazil. 90% of Colniza’s income is from illegal logging.
The Kawahiva’s plight is so serious that in 2005 a public prosecutor launched Brazil’s first ever investigation into the genocide of an uncontacted Indian tribe. Twenty-nine people suspected of involvement in killing Kawahiva, including a former state governor and a senior policeman, were detained but later released. The case has stalled for lack of evidence.”– Survival International.
The last of the Kawahiva are forced to live on the run from armed loggers and powerful ranchers. Image taken from rare footage from a chance encounter with government agents. -FUNAI
We know almost nothing of the Kawahiva, except that they have been forced to change their way of life from settled villages to becoming nomadic and only setting up temporary shelters to constantly flee the Oil merchants and the Loggers tractors and mechanical saws. They live in constant fear of genocide, in this region of the Brazilian Amazon basin, where there is the highest rate of illegal deforestation in the country. The territory of the Kawahivas is located near the city of Colniza, one of the most violent areas of Brazil, where 90% of the income comes from illegal logging for the timber industry. Unless the Brazilian authorities act immediately, the genocide of the Kawahivas will be fulfilled shortly.
Often, small tribes such as the Kawahivas are seen as an obstacle to the advance of oil drilling and agro-industry, mineral extractive industries, roads and dams. The Brazilian Amazon is home to around 100 isolated tribes, which make up the vast majority of the world’s uncontacted population. They are the most vulnerable people on our planet.
As the jungle is invaded and destroyed in the name of economic progress and personal gain, these peoples are attacked and liquidated by the simple fact that greedy outsiders know that they can even kill with impunity and the public media do nothing to report these horrors. These are silent and invisible genocides, of which there are hardly any witnesses. Often, the news only comes to light months or years later. It is probable that we will never get to know the real number of uncontacted indigenous peoples that have been eliminated because they are indigenous, they may not even speak more than their own native language, not Portuguese, and they are seen by the established colonials and especially by the elite and government as a “nuisance” and obstacle to development.
This mentality goes back to the Far West of the 18th and 19th centuries, when the native peoples of the United States were annihilated by the settlers, many of whom considered that “the only good Indian is the dead Indian”. Jair Bolsonaro, president-elect of Brazil, also thinks this. He has declared that “it is a shame that the Brazilian cavalry was not as effective as the Americans, who exterminated their Indians.”
His words of hatred add fuel to an already incendiary situation: in recent months those who want to appropriate indigenous lands have been encouraged and attacks on indigenous communities have proliferated. Bolsonaro has proposed to take FUNAI, the Department of Indigenous Affairs responsible for uncontacted indigenous peoples, from the Ministry of Justice to place it in the new Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights. This will undoubtedly reduce the effectiveness and influence of FUNAI.
Moreover, she has appointed Damares Alves as the new minister, an evangelical preacher and parliamentary assistant. Along with other people, she founded Atini, a group dedicated to evangelizing indigenous communities that is being investigated by the prosecution for incitement to racial hatred against indigenous peoples.
Bolsonaro has promised that under his presidency will not protect “a millimeter” more of indigenous lands. Sonia Guajajara, an indigenous woman who joined the candidacy of another candidate for the presidency in 2018, declared during the campaign: “In Brazil, there is a political decision not to demarcate territories and, when it is denied [the demarcation] an entire population is condemned to extermination”.
Things do not have to be this way. Survival International was founded 50 years ago, after the publication of the article “Genocide” by Norman Lewis, in the Sunday Times [British newspaper] in 1969, which revealed the atrocities suffered by many indigenous peoples in Brazil in the last century. The 50 years of our successful campaigns demonstrate the strength and influence of raising awareness and mobilizing public opinion against governments and companies that do not respect the rights of indigenous peoples.
Now more than ever we have to mobilize our collective strength to denounce and put an end to these hidden genocides. If we stand silent and do nothing we are also complicit in the annihilation of the indigenous natives who are the most responsible and environmentally conscious guardians of the Amazon forest.
Poco sabía, que fui testigo involuntario del comienzo de una larga resistencia para las comunidades nacionales de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana. En 2012, en mi cuarto día de mi estadía de tres semanas, en las profundidades de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana, la tranquilidad del bosque fue interrumpida por un helicóptero militar no invitado que aterrizó en el territorio Shiwiar de Jusuintsa alrededor del 21 de agosto. Se suponía que debían pedir permiso a la comunidad de Shiwiar para hacer esto, pero no lo hicieron. Mi corazón comenzó a acelerarse mientras caminábamos hacia estos invitados no invitados. Solo había una cosa en la que podía pensar, “Petroleum”, por qué estaban entrometiéndose en el territorio de Shiwiar sin previo aviso. Compartí mis preocupaciones con la comunidad, fuimos a hablar con los oficiales que dijeron que simplemente estaban mapeando el área, ya que nunca había sido mapeado oficialmente. Les pregunté si era por el petróleo, negaron que lo fuera.
En Octubre de 2012, recibí algunas noticias de última hora desde uno de mis amigos de Shiwiar. Veronica Shiran, gerente de la estación de radio Shiwiar, para todo el norte de Ecuador en la región de Pastaza, me contó lo que se acaba de anunciar a su comunidad hace unas semanas, dijo, “qué significa esto para Shiwiar y para los demás. Las comunidades indígenas del Amazonas están más allá de sus peores pesadillas ‘‘.
El 23 de Octubre de 2018, en la conferencia de Hidrocarburos, en Ecuador, la compañía petrolera PetroAmazonias planea aumentar su producción y extracción de petróleo en la selva amazónica a 700,000 barriles por día hasta el año 2021. Este mes, los ministros del gobierno Ecuatoriano declararon que iban a ingresar a los bloques petroleros 85, 86 y 87. Durante la reunión del sector minero y petrolero se indicó que los bloques petroleros 85 y 86, Carlos Pérez, ministro de Energía y Recursos Naturales No Renovables, declararon ”que no habría problemas para ingresar y profundice en estos bloques porque no hay comunidades indígenas presentes allí y por lo tanto, el impacto sería mínimo”.
El Presidente ecuatoriano, Lenin Moreno, culpas a la situación económica que heredó del predecesor Rafael Correa ya que la deuda acumulada del país era de casi $42 mil millones, sin incluir otros pasivos por valor de $ 8 mil millones. Una herencia con préstamos Estado Unidenses sobre actividades petroleras que afectan la caída de los precios del petróleo, la corrupción en el sector financiero y petrolero del gobierno y las consecuencias devastadoras del terremoto de Abril de 2016.
Sin embargo, la declaración que Carlos Pérez hizo acerca de que los bloques 86 y 87 están desocupados, es una mentira inconveniente. Como está claro, hay tres territorios ancestrales indígenas con comunidades activas afectadas por esta propuesta.
Personalmente, he trabajado con el Shiwiar desde 2011 y envié muchos voluntarios al territorio de Shiwiar. También me quedé con el Shiwiar y tuve que volar en un pequeño avión apache durante una hora y media, solo para llegar a este increíble hotspot de biodiversidad en las profundidades del Amazonas.
Varios reclamos serios deben ser destacados aquí. En primer lugar, Carlos Pérez y el gobierno Ecuatoriano están ignorando el hecho obvio de que estos territorios están ocupados por tres comunidades importantes, Shiwiar, Sapora y Achuar.
En segundo lugar, no han podido consultar legalmente a las comunidades indígenas ante todo, antes de cualquier propuesta pública o conferencia de cualquier actividad industrial. Los grupos indígenas en Ecuador han sido reconocidos en las Naciones Unidas, donde existe un acuerdo, no vinculante, que brinda a los grupos indígenas la oportunidad de defender sus vidas, sus tierras y su cultura. A lo largo de la Declaración, se garantiza el derecho a un proceso de “Consentimiento libre, previo e informado” para los pueblos indígenas cuando se enfrentan a decisiones, proyectos o leyes de corporaciones o gobiernos que puedan afectar a su población y / o territorio. El Artículo 57, punto 7 de la Constitución de Ecuador de 2008 garantiza una consulta libre, previa e informada, dentro de un plazo razonable; sin embargo, esto no requiere consentimiento (y no es vinculante). El Artículo 82, se refiere explícitamente a la consulta ambiental, en el caso de una decisión estatal que podría afectar el medio ambiente, y especifica información amplia y oportuna para los afectados. Sin embargo, incluso si hay una mayoría que se opone al proyecto en cuestión, todavía puede llevarse a cabo con la condición de que se minimice el impacto en los afectados y en el ecosistema.
En cuarto lugar, Ecuador reescribió su Constitución en 2007-2008 y fue ratificado por referéndum por el pueblo de Ecuador en Septiembre de 2008. La nueva Constitución Ecuatoriana incluye un Capítulo de los Derechos para la Naturaleza. En lugar de tratar a la naturaleza como una propiedad bajo la ley, los artículos de Derechos para Naturaleza, reconocen que la naturaleza en todas sus formas de vida tiene el derecho de existir, persistir, mantener y regenerar sus ciclos vitales, y la gente: tiene la autoridad legal para hacer cumplir estos derechos y el nombre de los ecosistemas. El propio ecosistema puede ser nombrado como el victima.
Finalmente, el Acuerdo de Escazú fue adoptado el 4 de Marzo de 2018, en San José, Costa Rica, por representantes de 24 países, incluido Ecuador. El tratado implementa el Principio 10 de la Declaración de Río, adoptado en la Cumbre de la Tierra en 1992, al establecer salvaguardas para Derechos de acceso a la información, participación pública y acceso a la justicia en materia ambiental. El acuerdo también impone obligaciones específicas para proteger de las amenazas y ataques a las personas que defienden los derechos humanos relacionados con el medio ambiente, para investigar y castigar cualquier agresión contra estas personas y para garantizar sus derechos a la vida e integridad personal, así como los derechos a Libertad de reunión pacífica, movimiento, expresión y asociación.
“Todas las personas tienen derecho a un ambiente limpio y saludable, asegurándose de que todas las voces puedan escucharse cuando sea el momento de tomar decisiones importantes que nos afectan a todos”, Erika Guevara Rosas, Directora de Amnistía Internacional para las Américas.
El video anterior es una conferencia de prensa programada el 23 de octubre, 2018 para que las nacionalidades indígenas de los territorios Ecuatorianos del Amazonas rechacen la XI Ronda del petróleo y las declaraciones de Carlos Pérez del ministerio de hidrocarburos.
Los presidentes de 7 nacionalidades de Pastaza y Morona Santiago con los presidentes de Confeniae, Conaie, expresaron su rechazo rotundo de la licitación de bloques petroleros en la Amazonía sur-central.
Edison Gualinga portavoz de la comunidad Shiwiar
Nosotros, los Shiwiar, tenemos el deber de poder transponer esta manifestación de público de manera progresiva, estamos aquí con nuestros colegas y comunidades unidas, los Achuar, Confeniae, Conaie y los representantes Sapara. Hemos planeado presentar nuestra asamblea al gobierno Ecuatoriano. Entendemos que el gobierno está negociando para poder hacer lo que es la nueva compañía petrolera en los territorios del sudeste de las Amazonas. Entendemos que quieren hacerlo en los bloques de petróleo 86 y 87, lo que significa que el territorio Sapora y Shiwiar se verán afectados directamente. Por lo tanto, por este dolor, no somos un sacrificio y estamos profundamente preocupados. Hemos estado resistiendo esta explotación durante mucho tiempo, pero ahora ha llegado a un punto crítico. Al sur, en esta provincia de Pastaza, contamos con catorce comunidades y 4 asociaciones, las comunidades de los nacionales de Shiwiar y Sapara.
Nuestra demostración es clara, compañeros, nosotros, el Shiwiar de Ecuador, lucharemos cuando ingrese petróleo para evitar comunidades fragmentadas y sitios forestales después de que las compañías petroleras los hayan impactado. La nacionalidad Shiwiar de Ecuador nunca permitirá la entrada de petróleo, ¿por qué? Debido a que vivimos en la naturaleza, dependemos de la naturaleza, porque ningún ser humano es independiente de la naturaleza, lo sabemos muy bien porque cada vez que han estado perforando causaron la contaminación devastadora de siete compañías misioneras de algunos superestados extranjeros, lo que hace que sean irreversibles Contaminación ambiental.
La nacionalidad Shiwiar de Ecuador, cuenta con doscientas treinta y ocho mil hectáreas donde nunca podríamos permitir, enteria de estas petroleras. También trabajamos en programas de conservación para proteger y preservar el medio ambiente. Nos reunimos a principios de este año, del 20 al 21 de julio de 2018 para 14 comunidades y 4 asociados, y creamos soluciones.
Rechazamos ninguna consulta previa de nuestra nacionalidad y territorio en 2012 y cualquier otra consulta previa o solicitud de que esto se reconozca en el futuro.
Rechazamos rotundamente la nueva ronda de petróleo en el sureste que pretende registrarse en el gobierno nacional sobre nuestro territorio ancestral sin consulta previa con nosotros, el pueblo Shiwiar.
El Shiwiar de Ecuador no acepta y rechaza categóricamente que Petroamazonias no tiene una consulta previa con nuestro pueblo, porque toda la consulta fundamentada es transparente y suficiente. Hasta ahora todo refleja solo corrupción. ¿Dónde una vez fuimos consultados o informados antes de cualquier actividad y cuándo han recibido consultas nuestras comunidades o asociaciones? Rechazamos esta falta de respeto por nuestra comunidad y nuestra asociación, por no buscar una consulta previa con nosotros. Los hombres Shiwiar, las mujeres Shiwiar, los niños, las niñas Shiwiar, las personas Shiwiar quisieran que las compañías petroleras respeten nuestro territorio, porque sin este territorio no podemos vivir.
No permitimos que las compañías petroleras ingresen y le digo a Carlos Pérez del ministerio, no vamos a dar un paso atrás para que las compañías petroleras puedan ingresar, siempre continuaremos esta lucha porque tenemos los derechos para proteger nuestro territorio. No es un territorio que exista con el único propósito de explotaciones petroleras o minerales. Es una gran universidad de naturaleza y vida para esta comunidad, tenemos nuestros propios derechos en nuestros territorios, los mismos derechos para la educación y la salud y siete aspectos más, por lo tanto, con respecto a los derechos para elegir esta forma de vida.
El mapa anterior muestra claramente que los reclamos de Carlos Pérez están desocupados y, por lo tanto, causarían un impacto mínimo, de hecho, están ocupados por los Achuar, Shiwiar, Sapora y Kichwa.
Nema Grefa portavoz de la nacionalidad y asociación Sapora.
Soy el presidente y representante de la nacionalidad Sapora, y rechazamos la perforación del bloque 86, 87, porque este territorio nos pertenece, no pertenece al gobierno. Nos sentimos profundamente afectados si el territorio Saparo es ingresado por las compañías petroleras, y así el territorio Shiwiar se ve directamente afectado. Como resultado, hemos unificado todas las nacionalidades y rechazamos la explotación de estos territorios. Al igual que las nacionalidades de los nativos americanos en los Estados Unidos, estamos organizados para que nuestros territorios no se ingresen. En este caso, queremos recordar al gobierno que nuestra nacionalidad Sapora tiene un patrimonio, por lo tanto, el gobierno debe respetarlo.
Después de reconocer esto, también deben respetar todos los territorios indígenas.
Rechazamos como nacionalidad que si quieren entrar, o si nos abren fuego, nos levantamos aquí para decirles, la razón misma por la que ignoraron la consulta previa con nosotros o con el Shiwiar, para esto tenemos razón, una lanza, con esta lanza, continuaremos resistiendo. Nuestra nacionalidad Sapora quiere que el gobierno y el ministro señor Carlos Pérez respeten nuestro territorio porque vivimos con la naturaleza. El ministro dice que nadie vive en este territorio, pero hay cinco comunidades que viven en este territorio, es nuestro territorio y la biodiversidad tiene un valor de preservación para el futuro del planeta, no para que lo utilicen es como un mercado al que convertir. dinero. Por eso tengo una amenaza, que ellos la entiendan es nuestro territorio. Siempre piensan que pueden explotar nuestro territorio sin limitaciones, si permitimos que continúe, lo que sucede es que no habrá más biodiversidad o jungla para el futuro del planeta. Es nuestra responsabilidad protegerlo y proteger nuestro territorio.
Gracias a todos los periodistas que están aquí, en este momento es un trabajo fundamental que las personas de la región Amazónica y el mundo necesitan para conocer esta realidad. La Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas del Ecuador representa y apoya a nuestra gente, apoyando esta moción, apoyando esta voz que tienen estas personas y sus derechos humanos. Hasta que se respeten los derechos de nuestras nacionalidades. Nuestra historia ancestral nos dice que hemos muerto al ser ignorados y que hemos muerto al ser discriminados, esto es lo que soportaron nuestros padres y antepasados, ahora esta es la misma historia para nosotros, y más de 525 años de lucha continuamos con ella.
Hoy apoyamos la nacionalidad Sapara y las nacionalidades Shiwiar que hacen que estos bloques 86 y 87 se conozcan claramente como sus territorios. Cuando el ministro de Hidrocarburos, Carlos Pérez declaró que no hay indígenas en estos territorios, que no hay comunidades, ¿qué decepcion? Claramente, los territorios de nuestra gente comunal están en estos bloques y están profundamente afectados. La nacionalidad Shiwiar, si no también hasta la nacionalidad Kichwa en este caso, CONAIE está apoyando a estas comunidades. Estamos atentos a los derechos de nuestras nacionalidades y comunidades que crees que puedes comprarnos y quitarnos. Recuerde que nuestro trabajo es defender la cosmovisión y la visión del mundo de las personas de las nacionalidades. Somos los guardianes de CONAIE, por lo que estas solicitudes y nuestros territorios permanecen protegidos. No puedes simplemente entrar en ellos, debes respetar y reconocer los derechos de las nacionalidades de los pueblos. Muchas gracias.
Julián, Portavoz de la Nacionalidad Achuar del Ecuador.
Donde estamos está en Morona Santiago. Gracias a todas las nacionalidades que se han unido hoy aquí, Nema Grefa, Andrés Tapia, Edison Gualinga, Shiwiar y otros que nos apoyan. La nacionalidad Achuar quisiera rechazar el bloque 86 que está afectando a nuestros y amenazando con dañar los territorios de las comunidades Shiwiar y Saparo y también no solo está afectando a sus territorios, sino también a nuestro territorio Achuar. Esto se debe a que nuestras comunidades están contiguas a la nacionalidad Shiwiar. Por lo tanto, decimos no a las compañías petroleras, madereras y mineras que no pueden ingresar, por lo tanto, en aras de la preservación de nuestras nacionalidades y territorios unidos, los Achuar son bienvenidos si desean ayudarnos a preservar el bosque y a nosotros mismos, luego bienvenidos, Seamos amables con las anclas del bosque de nuestros antepasados, que viven en estos territorios. Las compañías petroleras no tienen ningún negocio para el desarrollo aquí en el Amazonas, simplemente han dejado la contaminación en la naturaleza en todas partes, esta es la razón por la que rechazamos su presencia. Entonces, por lo tanto, continuaremos apoyando estas nacionalidades, que son entendidas por las compañías petroleras. Por lo tanto, el presidente, Lenin Moreno, tiene que entender, tienen que respetar las decisiones de las nacionalidades, también el ministro Carlos Pérez, de hidrocarburos, tiene que entender esto, porque vivimos con nuestros propios planes de vida. Con nuestra propia cosmovisión en nuestros territorios, cumpliendo con nuestros planes de vida, que es el proyecto profundo de cada nacionalidad. Así ha sido siempre como estamos unidos aquí, unidos por las nacionalidades para defender este territorio. Gracias
Andrés Tapia portavoz de CONFENIAE
El ministro de hidrocarburos, Carlos Pérez, quien hizo una declaración sobre los bloques petroleros 86 y 87, dijo que el impacto en estos bloques sería mínimo porque no hay comunidades allí. Rechazamos esta afirmación, hecha sin fundamento, conocemos la dinámica de las comunidades. En este caso, ¿qué comunidades están presentes en estos bloques?
Bueno, para comenzar, el territorio Shiwiar está en el Bloque 86, que consta de cuatro comunidades, también Juinitsa, y el territorio Sapara, el territorio nacional Achuar en el bloque 85, y en el bloque 87, y la comunidad Jaco Jaco que es Kichwa. Por lo tanto, la declaración de Pérez es una declaración que no tiene fundamento y, lógicamente, solo se hace por el interés obvio de las empresas petroleras que buscan explotar estos bloques petroleros. El otro lado de nuestra falta de acuerdo, del estado de la realidad de la vida es de las nacionalidades, en nuestras comunidades, cada uno de nosotros tiene planes de vida y planes de manera fluida. Nuestras culturas nuestras existen, que consiste en personas, comunidades, familiares, familias, hombres y mujeres. Hay territorios de las áreas mejor conservadas de bosque lluvioso y puntos calientes de biodiversidad con nuestras nacionalidades que actúan como guardianes del bosque y las preservan, Achuar, Shiwiar, Sappora y Kichwa tienen nuestros propios planes para mantener la conservación. Esto es lo que deseamos expresar por la lucha de nuestras nacionalidades cuando enfrentamos la explotación.
En segundo lugar, queremos expresar nuestro total apoyo a las nacionalidades en Pastaza para estos tres nacionales especiales, Shiwiar, Sappara y Achuar, quienes en este momento están dando su rara aparición en la prensa para hacer este llamado. Las 7 nacionalidades de Pastaza y las 10 organizaciones de Pastaza y Morona Santiago, el 23 de Octubre en Quito, en las afueras del hotel Marriott, junto con los presidentes de Confeniae, Conaie expresaron su rechazo rotundo a la licitación de los bloques petroleros en el sureste Amazonas. Ahora los presidentes dicen, ¿cuáles son las soluciones que podemos construir para el congreso Kichwa y Pastaza? Apropiadamente, la nacionalidad Kichwa desea mantener su territorio libre de contaminación ambiental. La forma en que nuestras 7 nacionalidades están en Pastaza es muy enfática en que esta exploración no se realice.
–
– Finalmente, hablemos con el gobierno de Lenin Moreno, lo que sabemos que el ministro no va a rechazar en nuestra solicitación, nos dirigimos al presidente republicano y queremos saber qué tipo de actividad, prospector, socialización, es muy claro. No se nos dio un proceso de consulta previa, no se conoce ningún tipo de socialización con nuestras comunidades, o no se ha realizado una consulta previa con estas comunidades afectadas, en esta área, y como resultado de esto, están directamente indignados. Si continuamos con nuestra denuncia nacional e internacional, como la semana pasada cuando presentamos esta carta abierta al público. Entonces, hagámoslo y tomemos medidas a nivel internacional y nacional. No más concesiones para empresas petroleras y mineras en el Amazonas. Continuaremos defendiendo nuestros territorios. Gracias
El valor ecológico de la Selva Amazónica.
La dependencia global del petróleo nos hace a todos responsables de hacer algo para proteger el Amazonas, ya que la dependencia mundial del petróleo es una de las principales causas de su rápida destrucción, lo que significa que las decisiones para sus medidas de conservación recaen en la comunidad internacional. No solo con el gobierno ecuatoriano o con los otros países que ocupa el Amazonas. Las selvas tropicales son la base de más de 5,000 productos de hierbas medicinales, curas para el cáncer y fuentes populares de alimentos, muebles y ropa.
En términos de tiempo, la selva tropical del Amazonas tardó 3.500 millones de años en evolucionar y convertirse en la maravilla del mundo de la biodiversidad rica en especies. Si se destruye, entonces desaparece para siempre, nada puede replicar o reemplazar eso, menos otros 3,500 millones de años libres de humanos. La parte occidental de la cuenca del Amazonas es uno de los puntos calientes de biodiversidad más ricos del mundo; El nivel de biodiversidad en la Amazonía Ecuatoriana es especialmente sorprendente. Para ponerlo en perspectiva, el parque nacional Yasuní contiene alrededor de 600 especies de aves y 170 especies de mamíferos, 1,100 especies de árboles en un área de un cuarto de kilómetro cuadrado, y eso es más especies que en todos los EE. UU. Y Canadá combinados. La mayoría de las personas no se dan cuenta de que gran parte del carbono liberado cuando se destruye una selva tropical se encuentra en el suelo de turba debajo de los árboles, no solo en los árboles sino en la mayor parte de los suelos de turba debajo de los cuales se almacenan miles de toneladas de carbono. Por eso, son invaluables sumideros de carbono, debajo de los árboles, y esto es clave para ayudar a regular el clima. Esto significa que cuando se produce la deforestación, todo el carbono que previamente estaba encerrado en el suelo de turba debajo de la selva tropical se libera a la atmósfera.
El Convenio sobre la Diversidad Biológica establece que la Amazonia contiene más del 50 por ciento de las especies de plantas y animales del mundo. No debemos descontar el valor de sus secretos no descubiertos para la ciencia médica y para la humanidad, ya que las personas están descubriendo curas a base de plantas para el cáncer que provienen de las plantas de la selva, hay más de 60,000 especies de plantas en la Amazonía y solo el 3 por ciento ha Estudiado para propiedades medicinales. Muchos de nuestros alimentos provienen de la selva tropical junto con otros materiales importantes. Existen miles de especies de plantas y animales aún por descubrir, pero los estamos destruyendo a un ritmo que es más rápido de lo que los estamos descubriendo. Por lo tanto, la opinión y las acciones de todos son relevantes y juegan un papel importante en la defensa de este ecosistema clave, ya que su devastación será la devastación de todos nosotros si no intervenimos para defender lo que queda de la selva amazónica.
Si desea publicar partes de este artículo en otro lugar donde haga referencia al enlace de la fuente a esta página y a este artículo, también puedo proporcionar Transcripciones en español. Gracias
Little did I know, that I was an involuntary witness to the beginning of a long resistance for the national communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon. In 2012, on my fourth day of my three week stay, deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the tranquillity of the forest was interrupted by an uninvited military helicopter that landed in the Shiwiar territory of Jusuintsa around the 21st of August. They were supposed to ask the Shiwiar community permission to do this, but neglected to do so. My heart began racing as we walked towards these uninvited guests. There was only one thing I could think of as to why they were intruding upon the Shiwiar territory unannounced, ‘Petroleum’. I shared my concerns with the community, we went to talk to the officers whom claimed they were simply mapping the area, as it had never officially been mapped before. I asked them if it was for oil, they denied it was.
In October, 2012 I received some breaking news from one of my Shiwiar friends. Veronica Shiran, manager of the Shiwiar radio station for the whole of northern Ecuador in the Pastaza region, relayed to me, what was just announced to her community a few weeks ago, she said, “what this means for the Shiwiar and for the other indigenous communities of the Amazon is beyond their worst nightmares”.
On October 23, 2018, at the Hydrocarbons conference,Ecuador, Petroleum Company PetroAmazonias plans to increase its crude production and extraction of oil in the Amazon rain forest to 700,000 barrels per day until the year 2021. This month, the Ecuadorian government ministers declared they were going to enter oil blocks 85, 86, and 87. During the meeting of the mining and oil sector stated that Oil Blocks 85 and 86, Carlos Pérez, minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources declared there would be no problems to enter and drill in these blocks because there are no indigenous communities present there and therefore the impact would be minimal.
Ecuadorian President Lenin Moreno blames that the economic situation he inherited from predecessor Rafael Correa and that the country’s accumulating debt stood at nearly $42 billion, without including other liabilities worth $8 billion. An inheritance with US loans on oil activities affecting the fall in oil prices, corruption in the government financial and oil sector and the devastating consequences of the April, 2016 earthquake.
However, the declaration Carlos Pérez made about blocks 86 and 87 being unoccupied is an inconvenient lie. Since, it is quite clear there are three indigenous ancestral territories with active communities on them affected by this proposal.
Personally, I have worked with the Shiwiar since 2011 and I sent many volunteers to the Shiwiar territory. I also stayed with the Shiwiar and had to fly in a small apache plane for an hour and a half, just to get to this amazing biodiversity hotspot deep in the Amazon.
Several serious grievances need to be highlighted here. Firstly, Carlos Pérez and the Ecuadorian Government are ignoring the obvious fact that these territories are occupied bv three important communities, the Shiwiar, the Sapora and Achuar.
Secondly, they have failed to legally consult the indigenous communities first and foremost, prior to any public proposals or conferences of any industrial activities. Indigenous groups in Ecuador have been recognised under the United Nations to which there exists a non-binding agreement, which gives indigenous groups the chance to defend their lives, land, and culture. Guaranteed throughout the Declaration is the right to a process of “Free, Prior and Informed Consent” for indigenous peoples when faced with decisions, projects, or legislation by corporations or government that may affect their people and/or territory. Article 57, point 7 of the 2008 Constitution of Ecuador guarantees free, prior and informed consultation, within a reasonable period; however, this does not require consent (and is not binding). Article 82 refers explicitly to environmental consultation, in the case of a state decision which might affect the environment, and specifies broad and timely information for those affected. However, even if there is a majority opposing the project in question, it may still be carried out on the condition that the impact on those affected and the ecosystem is minimised.
Thirdly, Ecuador rewrote its Constitution in 2007-2008 and it was ratified by referendum by the people of Ecuador in September 2008. The new Ecuadorian Constitution includes a Chapter for the Rights for Nature. Rather than treating nature as property under the law, Rights for Nature articles acknowledge that nature in all its life forms has the right to exist, persist, maintain and regenerate its vital cycles. And the people – have the legal authority to enforce these rights on behalf of ecosystems. The ecosystem itself can be named as the defendant.
Finally, The Escazu Agreement was adopted on March 4, 2018, in San Jose, Costa Rica, by representatives of 24 countries including Ecuador, the treaty implements Principle 10 of the Rio Declaration, adopted at the Earth Summit in 1992, by establishing safeguards for access rights to the information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters. The agreement also imposes specific obligations to protect from threats and attacks to people who defend human rights related to the environment, to investigate and punish any aggression against these people, and to guarantee their rights to life and personal integrity, as well as the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, movement, expression and association.
“All people have a right to a clean and healthy environment, making sure that all voices can be heard when it is time to take important decisions that affect us all,”-Erika Guevara Rosas, Americas Director of Amnesty International.
The above video is a press conference set on the 23rd of October for the Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon Territories to Reject The XI Oil Round and the Declarations of Carlos Perez of the hydrocarbon ministry-
The presidents of 7 nationalities of Pastaza and Morona Santiago with the presidents of Confeniae, Conaie, expressed their resounding rejection of the bidding of oil blocks in the south central Amazon.
Edison Gualinga spokesperson for the Shiwiar Community
We the Shiwiar, have a duty to be able to transpose this manifestation of public in a progressive manner, we are here with our colleagues and united communities, the Achuar, and Confeniae, Conaie and representatives Sapara. We have planned to present our assembly to the Ecuadorian government. We understand that the government is negotiating to be able to make what is the new oil company in the South eastern territories of the Amazonias. We understand they want to do it in oil blocks 86 and 87, This means that the territorial Sapora, and Shiwiar, will be affected directly. Therefore, for this pain, we are not a sacrifice and we are deeply concerned. We have been resisting this exploitation for a long time but now it has come to a head. To the South in this province of Pastaza, we count fourteen communities and 4 associations, the communities of the Shiwiar and Sapora nationals.
Our demonstration is clear, companions, we, the Shiwiar of Ecuador, will fight when you enter petroleum to avoid fragmented communities and forest sites after the oil companies have impacted them. The Shiwiar nationality of Ecuador will never allow the entry of oil, why? Because we live in nature, we are dependent on nature, because no human being is independent of nature, we know it very well because every time they have been drilling they caused devastating contamination of seven mission companies of some foreign super states, thus making irreversible environment pollution.
The Nationality Shiwiar Ecuador, have two hundred and thirty eight thousand hectares where we could never allow, entry of these oil companies. We also work in conservation programs to protect and preserve the environment. We assembled earlier this year in July 20-21, 2018 for 14 communities and 4 associates and we made solutions.
We reject no prior consultation of our nationality and territory in 2012 and what other prior consultation or request that this is acknowledged in the future.
We strongly rejects the new round of oil in the south-east that pretends to register in the national government over our ancestral territory without prior consultation to us, the Shiwiar people.
–
The Shiwiar of Ecuador do not accept and categorically rejects that Petroamazonias has no prior consultation with our people, because all the prior informed consultation is transparent and sufficient. Everything so far reflects only corruption. where once were we consulted or informed prior to any activities? And when have our our communities or associations received consultations? We reject this lack of respect for our community and our association, for not seeking prior consultation with us. Shiwiar men, Shiwiar women, children, Shiwiar girls, the Shiwiar people would like to see oil companies respect our territory, because without this territory we can not live.
We do not allow oil companies to enter and I tell Carlos Perez of the ministry, we are not going to step back so that the oil companies can enter, we will always continue this fight because we have the rights to protect our territory. It is not a territory that exists for the sole purpose of oil or mineral exploits. It is a great university of nature and life for this community, we have our own rights in our territories, the same rights for education and health and seven more aspects, therefore regarding the rights to choose this way of life.
The above map clearly shows that blocks Carlos Perez claims are unoccupied and therefore would cause minimal impact are in fact occupied by the Achuar, Shiwiar, Sapora and Kichwa.
Nema Grefa spokesperson for the Sapora nationality and association
I am the president and representative the Sapora nationality, and we reject the drilling of block 86, 87, because this territory belongs to us, it does not belong to the government. We will be profoundly affected if the territory Saparo is entered by oil companies, and so the Shiwiar territory be directly affected. As a result we have unified all the nationalities and reject exploitation of these territories. Similar to as nationalities of Native Americans in the United States, we are organized so that our territories are not entered. In this case, we want to remind the government that our Sapora nationality has a patrimony, therefore the government must respect this. After recognizing this, they also need to respect all indigenous territories.
We reject as a nationality that if they want to enter, or if they open fire upon us, we get up here to say, the very reason they have ignored prior consulting with us or with the Shiwiar, we have a spear, with this spear we will continue to resist. Our nationality Sapora want the government and the Minister Senor Carlos Perez to respect our territory because we live with nature. The minister say’s nobody lives in this territory, but there are, five communities living in this territory, it is our territory and the biodiversity has a preservation value for the future of the planet, not for them to use is like a market to convert to money. That is why I have a threat, for them to understand is our territory. They always think they can exploit our territory without limitations, if we allowed that to continue, what happens is there will be no more biodiversity or jungle for the future of the planet. It is our responsibility to protect it and protect our territory.
Thanks for all the journalists who are here, right now it is a fundamental job that people of the Amazon region and the world need to know this reality. The Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of Ecuador represents and supports our people, supporting this motion, supporting this voice that these people have and their human rights. Until the rights of our nationalities are respected. Our ancestral history tells that we have died while being ignored and we have died while being discriminated, this is what our parents and ancestors endured, now this is the same story for us, and more than 525 years of struggle we continue with it.
Today we support the Sapara nationality and the Shiwiar nationalities that are making these block 86 and 87 clearly known as their territories. When the minister of hydrocarbons, Carlos Perez declared that there are no indigenous people in these territories, that there are no communities, what a deception? Clearly, the territories of our communal people are on these blocks and are deeply affected. The Shiwiar nationality, if not also up to Kichwa nationality in this case, CONAIE are supporting these communities. We are vigilant, of rights of our nationalities and communities that you think you can buy and take from us. Remember, that our work is to defend the cosmovision and world view of the people’s of the nationalities. We are the guardians of CONAIE, so that these requests, and our territories remain protected. You cannot just walk into them, you need to respect and acknowledge the rights of the peoples nationalities. Thank you so much.
Julian, Spokesperson for the Achuar Nationality of Ecuador-
Where we are is in Morona Santiago, Thanks to all of the nationalities united here today, Nema Grefa, Andrés Tapia, Edison Gualinga, the Shiwiar, and others who are supporting us. The Achuar nationality would like to reject block 86 which are affecting our and threatening to damage the territories of the Shiwiar and Saparo communities and also it is not only affecting their territories, but also our Achuar territory. This is because our communities are adjoining the Shiwiar nationality. Therefore we say no to oil, wood and mining companies who cannot enter, therefore in the interest of the preservation of our united nationalities and territories, the Achuar’s is you are welcome if you want to help us preserve the forest and ourselves, then welcome, let us be gentle with the forest of our ancestors anchors, who are living in these territories. The oil companies do not have any business for development here in the Amazon, they have simply left contamination in nature every where they have been, this is the reason we reject their presence. So, therefore, we will continue to support these nationalities, which are understood by oil companies. Therefore, the president, Lenin Moreno, has to understand, they have to respect the decisions of the nationalities, also the minister Carlos Perez, of hydrocarbons, has to understand this, because we live with our own plans for life. With our own cosmovision in our territories, fulfilling our life plans, which is the profound project of each nationality. That has always been how we are united here, united by the nationalities to defend this territory. Thank you
The minister of hydrocarbons, Carlos Perez who made a declaration regarding the oil blocks 86 and 87, said there would be minimal impact in these blocks because there are no communities there. We reject this statement, made without foundation, we know the dynamics of the communities. In this case, what communities are present in these blocks?
Well, to start with the Shiwiar territory is in Block 86, consisting of four communities, also Juinitsa, and the Sapara territory, the Achuar national territory in block 85, and in block 87, and Jaco Jaco community that is Kichwa. Therefore, the declaration of Perez is a statement that has no fundementality and logically is only made for the obvious interest of the oil companies that seek to exploit these oil blocks. The other side of our lack of agreement, of the state of the reality of the life is of the nationalities, in our communities, each one of us have plans for life and plans in a fluent manner. Our our cultures exist, consisting of people, communities, relatives, families, men and women. There are territories of the best preserved areas of rainforest and biodiversity hotspots with our nationalities acting as guardians of the forest and preserving them, Achuar, Shiwiar, Sappora and Kichwa have our own plans to maintain conservation. This is what we wish to express for the struggle of our nationalities when we face exploitation.
Secondly, we want to express our total support to the nationalities in Pastaza for these special three nationals, Shiwiar, Sappara and Achuar who at this moment are giving their rare press appearance, to make this appeal. The 7 nationalities of Pastaza and the 10 organizations of Pastaza and in Morona Santiago, on the 23 of October in Quito outside the Marriott hotel, with the presidents of Confeniae, Conaie expressed their resounding rejection of the bidding of oil blocks in the south-eastern Amazon. Now the presidents say, what are the solution we can build for the Kichwa and Pastaza congress. Fittingly,the Kichwa nationality wish to keep their territory free of environmental pollution. The way our 7 nationalities are in Pastaza is very emphatic that this exploration is not realized.
–
– Finally, let us address Lenin Moreno’s government, what we know the minister is not going to repel back at our appeal, we address the Republican president and we want to know what kind of activity, prospector, socialization, to be very clear of the we were not given a prior consultation process, there is no knowledge of any type of socialization with our communities, or have there been no prior consultation with these affected communities, in this area, and as a result of this they are directly outraged. If we continue our national and international denunciation, like last week when we presented this, open letter to the public. So let’s do it and take action internationally as well as nationally. No more concession for oil and mining companies in the Amazon. We will continue to defend our territories. Thank you
The Ecological Value of the Amazon Rainforest.
The global reliance on oil makes all of us responsible for doing something to protect the Amazon, since the world’s dependence on petroleum is one of the major causes of its rapid destruction, which again means the decisions for its conservation measures lay with the international community, not just with the Ecuadorian government or with the other countries that the Amazon occupies. Rainforests are the basis for more than 5,000 internationally consumed products from herbal medicines, cures for cancer and popular food sources, furniture and clothing.
In terms of time, it took 3,500 million years for the Amazon rainforest to evolve and grow into the species-rich biodiversity hotspot wonder of the world. If it is destroyed, then it is gone forever, nothing can replicate or replace that, short of another 3,500 million human-free years. The western part of the Amazon Basin is one of the richest biodiversity hotspots in the world; the level of biodiversity in the Ecuadorian Amazon is especially astounding. Just to put it into perspective, Yasuni national park contains around 600 species of birds and 170 species of mammals, 1,100 species of trees all in one quarter square kilometre area, and that is more species than in all of the U.S. and Canada, combined. Most people do not realise that much of the carbon released when a rainforest is destroyed is in the peat soil below the trees, it is not just in the trees but most of it is in the peat soils below which store thousands of tons of carbon, so they are invaluable carbon sinks, below the trees and this is key to help to regulating the climate. This means when deforestation occurs, all the carbon that was previously locked up in the peat soil below the rainforest is released into the atmosphere.
The Convention on Biological Diversity states that the Amazon contains more than 50 percent of the world’s plant and animal species. We must not discount the value of its undiscovered secrets for medical science and for humankind, as already, people are discovering plant-based cures for cancer that come from rainforest plants, there are over 60,000 plant species in the Amazon and only 3 percent have been studied for medicinal properties. Many of our foods come from the rainforest along with other important materials. There are thousands of undiscovered species of plants and animals still in existence, but we are destroying them at a pace which is faster than we are discovering them. Therefore, everyone’s opinion and actions are relevant and play on important role in defending this key ecosystem, as its devastation will be the devastation of all of us if we do not step in to defend what remains of the Amazon Rainforest.
If you wish to publish parts of this article else where please reference the source link to this page and to this article, I also can provide Spanish Transcripts. Thank you.
Photo copyright-Marcelo Camerago
El mapa anterior muestra claramente que los reclamos de Carlos Pérez están desocupados y, por lo tanto, causarían un impacto mínimo, de hecho, están ocupados por los Achuar, Shiwiar, Sapora y Kichwa.
