WikiLeaks editor-in-chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said that Julian Assange was not receiving a fair trial, while speaking outside Woolwich Crown Court in London on Wednesday.
Hrafnsson states that the WikiLeaks co-founder had little contact with his lawyers and was not able to speak confidentially with them, as he was sitting behind a glass-fronted dock inside the courtroom.
“He can hardly and barely hear what’s going on in the courtroom. He cannot communicate with his lawyers without being observed and overheard by officials from the State Department, from the embassy, and from the Eastern District Court of Virginia,” –Kristinn Hrafnsson
Assange told the judge at Woolwich Crown court that he was unable to participate in the hearing from behind a bulletproof glass, and complained about the presence of US officials in the courtroom. The WikiLeaks co-founder has remained behind bars in high-security Belmarsh Prison since May 1, 2019, after he was sentenced to 50 weeks in prison for breaching his bail conditions to avoid extradition to Sweden on sexual assault allegations.
Despite this sentence coming to an end on September 22, a British judge ordered Assange remain in prison while facing extradition to the US, due to his previous history of absconding. Extradition hearings started on Monday and are expected to continue throughout the week. A second round of hearings will be held in May. Source-RUPTLY
Hrafnsson said that even murderers have the privilege of being able to sit next to their lawyer to communicate with them. A European court would not have done this, perhaps the British Government’s decision to keep Assange in prison last September was in anticipation of Brexit freedom from European Human Rights laws, which could have helped lift the British and Serco imposed restrictions on Julian Assange who was sat locked in a glass box unable to hear what was happening in court and not able to speak to his lawyers. A European court still has more human rights privileges than a British court, if Assange was freed before the Brexit, perhaps he could have had the fair trail that he deserved in the European court system. After all, his only crime was publishing documents exposing deep state corruption in the US and British government on matters of war crimes and more.
This marks a very dark day for true investigative journalism. Assange is not only a symbol for the fight for free press and transparency in government, perhaps he is being used by the real perpetrators, who are the ones wielding the power, as a warning to anyone else that dare to continue to expose the entrails of the corrupted shadow government.
There is no real justice or democracy since what happened today breaches the Rule of International Law, we wait until May 2020 for further developments. – CS.
“Our world is controlled and divided and manipulated, … language and debate are distorted to produce the propaganda of false consciousness.” Read John Pilger’s article
Isolated Amazon indigenous people. Photo taken by author.
60 million to 200 million indigenous people are almost wholly dependent on forests, these indigenous forest communities live in the world’s last remaining forests which are critically endangered as the equivalent of 987,500 football fields of Amazon Rainforest have been destroyed over the last few years in Brazil.
These indigenous forest communities are facing ecocide and they are key to the protection of the Amazon rainforest and climate balance. There are at least 80 indigenous tribes in the Amazon rainforest still living in complete isolation from the outside world. Human contact would be detrimental to their very existence, they are the most vulnerable communities since they have no resistance to disease and would be wiped out upon first contact with people from the outside world. We must respect their way of life and leave them in peace and protect them from gold and oil miners.
The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC) and WRI Report found that Indigenous Peoples and local forest communities manage at least 54,546 million metric tons of carbon (Mt C) in the tropical forests they live in globally, or just under one-quarter of the total carbon found above ground in the global tropics.
Indigenous Peoples and local communities manage at least 24 percent of the total carbon stored aboveground in the world’s tropical forests, or 54,546 million metric tons of carbon (MtC), a sum greater than 250 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by global air travel.
There is a deeply intrinsic relationship between the health of the Amazon rainforest and the health of the planet. Rainforests contain 90-140 billion metric tons of carbon, not just in the tree trunks but also stored in the soil below, this helps stabilise local and global climate. Deforestation, oil extraction and mining activities releases significant amounts of this locked carbon, which is having catastrophic consequences on the climate around the world.
The Rights and Resources Initiative offers Amazon forest and global governments to consider improving protection of deforestation and forest degradation pressures, to enhance local livelihoods, tropical country governments and the international community should:
• Support the efforts of forest peoples’ organisations to document and secure their collective forest
rights by scaling up dedicated funding streams and technical assistance;
• Make Indigenous Peoples and local communities part of the climate solution by incorporating
community-based actions in Nationally Determined Contributions;
• Develop/adopt institutional safeguards that significantly increase the voice and contributions of
forest peoples in the design and implementation priority actions to conserve/enhance forest carbon stocks and non-carbon benefits.
The Amazon rainforest is the worlds largest biodiversity rich biome containing more than half the worlds 10 million animal and plant species, with green capital preservation we can emphasize the immense value of the rainforest and its contribution to the planet.
The Amazon rainforest contains:
One in ten known species on Earth
1.4 billion acres of dense forests, half of the planet’s remaining tropical forests.
4,100 miles of winding fresh water rivers.
2.6 million square miles in the Amazon basin, about 40 percent of South America.
We are at a critical time where global governments, rainforest conservation groups and non-governmental organisations need to reinforce protection of environmental laws for Indigenous people’s defence treaties for the last remaining Amazon rainforests on the Earth. After spending fifteen years working on conservation projects with indigenous people in the Amazon, their challenges involve dealing with many front line issues that the largest established charities, governments and academic institutes know very little about. One common example in the Amazonia regions of South America, is the ongoing internalised governmental corruption where some government affiliated corporations provide finances and arms to military and vigilante groups to attack and continually persecute indigenous environmental activist leaders and to drive indigenous people forcefully off of their land. This is why there is an exponential rise of murders of Indigenous environmental activists every year.
One such story I learned in 2012 at Shell airport waiting to fly deep into the Amazon, here I met with Cristina Gualinga. Cristina is from the Kichwar Sarayaku territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The Sarayaku community were subject to violent force to remove them from their ancestral land by illegal invasion of oil companies and their government sponsored military soldiers. Cristina Gualinga and many in her Sarayaku community are life long activists against oil exploitation, after they were subject to brutal expulsion from their territory and Cristina witnessed systematic destruction of her ancestral lands for an oil pipeline, there is a documentary about the Sarayaku’s experience called The Children of the Jaguar.
Governments who are included in the Amazon Basin region countries must collaborate with international conservation organisations and governments from all global countries to step up protection through reinforcement of environmental laws and indigenous peoples rights and powers to indigenous leaders of key communities who are our environmental protectors of the Amazon.
The international governments have a responsibility to the conservation of the planet and especially the Amazon rainforest and should be providing reinforced prosecution for indigenous communities threatened by oil extraction, hydrodam building or gold mining and every other activity that is rapidly causing ecocide in the Amazon rainforest.
The above map shows the amount of industrial activity in the Amazon and the red crosses show the amount of indigenous people assassinated due to conflicts over rainforest that they are fighting to protect.
Between August 2017 and July 2018 some 7,900 square kilometres of forest were logged in the Brazilian Amazon. In addition to the ongoing illegal logging and goldmines, in 2019 over 7,200 square miles of the Brazilian rainforest burned—an aggregated area nearly the size of New Jersey. The worst annual rate of deforestation in a decade, according to official government data. This represents an increase of 14 percent over the same period last year.
Greenpeace Brazil pointed out, approximately 1,185 million trees were felled in an area equivalent to the size of 987,500 football fields.
The above graph from Global Witness report ”At What Cost” shows Brazil has the highest rate of environmental defenders being killed than any other country in the world.
Meanwhile, Jair Bolsonaro ignores invitations towards implementing and reinforcing conservation action by other Amazon countries and he encourages persecution of indigenous people, conveniently overlooking the continued murders of Amazon protectors and environmental campaigners, further accelerating the destruction of the Brazilian Amazon, last year many of the raging fires which raged through the Brazilian Amazon were a result of arson as a preliminary measure to clear forest for oil drilling and illegal gold mining in indigenous territories that should be protected areas of the Amazon. Bolsonaro has publicly declared his hatred of indigenous communities, specifically the Kawahivas people who are on the edge of extinction, his promise to corporate interests are to continue to open more the Amazon to the development of the mining and timber industries.
Therefore, corporate sponsored murders of indigenous environmental protectors are conveniently overlooked, increasing the kidnappings, torture and assassination of key environmentalists. Consequently, illegal mining and logging activities are rising with corporate land grabs and violations of indigenous people’s rights to critical escalation Brazil and other countries that the Amazon basin covers, Ecuador, Peru and Colombia.
The Amazon rainforest is deadlier than ever for land and environmental defenders, with mining and oil industries and agribusiness, these industries are the most linked to murder of environmentalists and indigenous rainforest activists.
Many indigenous communities live solely off of the land, many live in isolated regions that are difficult to access, they are adept at survival from the bounty of nature and in tune with the spiritual elements that come with their connection and close relationship with nature, therefore most of these communities are not in need of money or the materialistic way of living that Westerners are used to, and this goes in their favour to be the world’s best and most trusted conservationists. Their lives depend on the preservation and conservation of their ancestral land, not on money. Their connection with the environment is not just dependent on daily living, it is part of their spiritual ancestry, their spiritual ecology, part of their souls and beating hearts. This is what we have forgotten in Western civilisation.
For these reasons, Indigenous people are the best conservationists to manage and conserve the forests and last great wildernesses, as their immediate survival depends on the land and they are attuned to the environment around them, because of this, they are also the most vulnerable when it comes to ecocide, their cultures and survival is ultimately threatened. Read previous article People on the Edge of Extinction-The Last Tribes of the Amazon
There are indigenous conservation treaty recommendations supported by many Indian and Alaskan Native organisations. A recent convention set up by the Indigenous peoples of all the Americas allowed them to form sixteen principles for building a sustainable and harmonious world community.
These principles are rooted in the concerns of hundreds of Indigenous Elders, Spiritual Leaders and Community Members, they are also rooted in deep ecology values, they recognise the interconnection of all life on Earth and how we affect one another and the Earth with our actions. They recognise how humans must work on internal balance to create external balance and a sustainable world. They recognise the importance of morals, and ethics in communities. These guiding principles constitute the foundation for the process of healing and developing ourselves (mentally, emotionally, physically, and spiritually), our human relationships (personal, social, political, economic, and cultural) and our relationship with Mother Earth.
The senseless annihilation of the Earth’s last rainforests is part of an ecosystem, not only providing vital equilibrium for the climate but also plant medicines and foods and resources everyone takes for granted. Corporate ecocide has to stop along with the global unfolding ecocide of other ancient wildernesses where our great indigenous people remain.
All this senseless destruction of the Amazon rainforest, is for logging, gold, hydrodams and mostly for petroleum oil, the black life blood of Pacha Mama, Mother Earth, these resources are valued over human life and over the most essential biome of the Amazon rainforest, a major oxygen producer for all life on planet Earth. How many of us have to suffer and to what limit of destruction will this planet be pushed to, before we realise human consciousness is now an ecological issue? Humanity is a threat to itself unless we change the way we live on this planet, we have to live with nature, not separate from her, we are our environment, we are nature. Meanwhile there are solutions that we at Evolve to Ecology are working on to give more power and protection to indigenous communities in the Amazon with the Biobank Green Economy initiative.
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.
Carlita is an environmental journalist, author, project developer, hypnotherapist and educator who wants to share her insights and experiences to benefit people living with autism, anxiety, trauma, severe depression and suicidal thoughts. Here she talks openly about her life and gives an ecological perspective in her up and coming book, ”Surviving Depression in a Depressing World, an ecological perspective”.
If you want to put your name on the email list to be notified when the book comes out, please email below at
thesilentecocide@gmail.com and to receive updates and learn more about the art of living in a depressing world!
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 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.
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– 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.
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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.
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– 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.
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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.
