Protectors of the Amazon

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 October 2023

⏱️ 9 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 2003, an oil company entered the indigenous Sarayaku community’s territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon in search of oil. Neither the government nor the firm had consulted the community beforehand. The locals responded by filing a lawsuit against the company. The ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights would go onto become an important case for indigenous communities all over the world. Former Sarayaku president Jose Gualing and community leader Ena Santi recall the landmark case. A Munck Studios production for BBC World Service presented by Isak Rautio. (Photo: Ecuadorian rainforest. Credit: Fabio Cuttica/Reuters)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to the witness history podcast from the BBC World Service with me, Isakrautio.
0:11.0	I'm taking you back to 2012 when the Sarayaku people of Ecuador's Amazonian rainforest won an international court battle against the Ecuadorian government.
0:21.0	It meant an oil company that had entered Sarayaku territory without permission had to leave and was not allowed to return.
0:29.0	What came to my mind is that the tambourists...
0:33.0	When the result was announced, my first thought was that the drums would thunder throughout the rainforest, celebrating our victory.
0:42.0	We had fought back with all our wisdom and power against the economic, political and military forces.
0:50.0	We had beaten the Ecuadorian government and the supporting government of Latin America.
0:57.0	Instead of individuals and leaders, we had won this collectively as a community.
1:04.0	Our victory is not only fundamental to our own peaceful resistance, but also a reference for other indigenous people who are fighting in defense of the rights of nature.
1:19.0	That's José Gualinga. He's one of the around 2,000 people belonging to the Sarayaku community who live in close proximity to one another by the banks of the Boanaza River.
1:30.0	The village is located deep in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest and shared with countless other species.
1:37.0	The Sarayaku have lived in harmony with the rainforest for generations.
1:43.0	However, around the turn of the century, it was all threatened by an oil company, wanting to cut down trees and drill for oil.
1:54.0	One day, in 2002, we heard that the company was about to invade our land.
2:00.0	At the time we didn't know what the company meant.
2:04.0	Sarayaku was a beautiful place surrounded by the rainforest.
2:09.0	We had a good life as a community. We lived together in peace with the forest, water and the wind.
2:17.0	Suddenly, the company and the government said there was a lot of oil in our lands.
2:22.0	They were preparing to exploit our territory and destroy our home.
2:27.0	Our elders taught us that we needed to stand up and care for the forest.
2:32.0	And so we did. Sarayaku started to organize, talk and make decisions.
2:39.0	Women, men and youth began to mobilize to learn about the situation.
	...

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