A dense, oily slick covers part of an estuary in the Yasuni Nature Reserve in the Ecuadorian Amazon, where the indigenous Waorani people are clamoring for an end to oil extraction.
“It’s time to say enough is enough, they’ve abused us enough,” Ene Nenquimo, vice-president of the Nacionalidad Waorani (Nawe) organization, with multi-colored feathers on her head, told AFP.
The black spot borders a road leading to the community of Guiyero, on the banks of the Tiputini River, home to indigenous Waorani and other communities in voluntary isolation.
“Big lizards have died,” laments Pablo Ahua, 44, among the hundred or so indigenous people in the small village located near one of the many wells in the reserve, from which a black gold is extracted that is precious for the country but devastating for the environment.
In June, state-owned Petroecuador admitted that a crude oil leak in Block 16 (called Iro) had contaminated water sources in several villages and reached the Napo River, a tributary of the Amazon.
According to environmentalists, leaks are frequent in the million-hectare reserve, which is a world biosphere reserve with some 600 species of birds, 220 of mammals, 120 of reptiles and 120 of amphibians recorded.
These leaks have “an immense impact that no one can remedy,” denounces Ene Nenquimo, who also regrets the lack of essential services for the indigenous populations of the reserve such as health care. “We are forgotten,” she assures.
According to Kevin Koenig of the NGO Amazon Watch, oil extraction also has the negative effect of causing disease. “We see (…) a correlation between the proximity of populations to oil platforms and wells and high rates of cancer,” he points out.
Read more
– “No development” –
The environmentalist urges developed countries to invest in environmental protection through financial mechanisms such as debt swaps, which allow a country to reduce its external debt in exchange for its commitment to finance environmental protection projects.
Meanwhile, in August 2023, environmentalists won a historic victory when 59% of Ecuadorian voters voted to halt mining in another block, 43 (known as ITT), a small part of which lies within the Yasuni reserve.
The consultation called for a phased shutdown of oil extraction within a year. However, the government recently announced that closing the 247 wells in the block would take at least five years. To date, only one well has been closed, on August 28.
For Ene Nenquimo, the State “must respect, whether we like it or not” what was decided at the ballot box. In 2023, Ecuador estimated the losses related to the closure of the ITT, one of the 80 blocks located in the Ecuadorian jungle, at nearly 16.5 billion dollars.
“They say that (oil) is intended for the development of communities, but there is no development,” says Ene Nenquimo, who only sees the harmful consequences on the environment and health.
While many indigenous people share his dream of seeing the jungle completely free of oil extraction, those working for oil companies do not want to see the end of an activity that generated $7.8 billion in revenue last year.
With some 17 million inhabitants, Ecuador has a poverty rate of 25.5% and extreme poverty of 10.6%, a scourge that mainly affects indigenous communities.
Nawe, the main Waorani organization, estimates that it owns some 800,000 hectares in the Amazon, but claims 1.2 million more.
The Constitution recognizes indigenous peoples’ “collective ownership of land, as an ancestral form of territorial organization,” but maintains the power of the State over subsoil resources.
sp/lv/nn/sf/lab/vgu
