Tuntiak Katan, leader of the Territory of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (Confeniae), warned that the Government of Ecuador plans to “intensify oil and mining extraction” in the Amazon.
The announcement was made after he participated in the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP26), organized by the United Kingdom in collaboration with Italy, in Glasgow and which will run until 12 November.
The leader of the Shuar indigenous people denounced that President Guillermo Lasso has “proclaimed” an economic transition in the face of climate change, but that internally it threatens the Amazonian territories.
He commented that they have urged the governments not to intensify extractive activity in their territories and to protect the forests and not to play with the life expectancy of humanity.
Although the rulers indicated that USD 20,000 million will be allocated to guarantee the forests, Katan clarified that that amount seems a lot, but in reality it is insufficient to mitigate the climate, humanitarian and economic crisis.
He said that these resources are not guaranteed to reach the territories to protect the territorial rights, the life rights of indigenous peoples and native peoples.
The leader pointed out that this is one of the things that has been denounced in Glasgow and that the indigenous peoples of the Amazon are already protecting more than 400 million tropical forests, despite the persecution they live.
“Let us preserve, do not persecute us, do not kill us. At the international level, we are protecting 950 million tropical forests on the planet. We are contributing, help us protect, do not criminalize, do not intensify the extractive activity in our territories ”, he mentioned.
He explained that the struggle is not only in Ecuador, but there are also indigenous peoples like in Brazil who do not want to live in spaces that are limited due to the issue of territorial demarcation.
In the case of Ecuador, he pointed out that the Government “proclaims” the economic transition in the country, but that in the Amazon it is something else, because it seeks to intensify oil and mining extraction in the territories of indigenous peoples without consulting free and informed prior and worse without consent.
Source: DW Español, social networks
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