The Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon and throughout the Americas have centuries of experience facing deadly threats. For more than 500 years we have faced invasions, the loss of our ancestral territories, ethnic and socioeconomic discrimination that result in evictions, diseases, deaths, and the constant threat of cultural and physical extermination.
For decades, big companies and governments have offered us what they call “economic development” in exchange for the extraction of irreplaceable natural resources. In reality, those uncontrolled practices have enslaved us and have contaminated our territories, whose habitat is of vital importance not only for the peoples who live there, but for the entire planet.
Our home, the Amazon, not only contributes significantly to the gross domestic product of many countries in the region, it also contributes the most oxygen to the world. However, the peoples who protect it are deprived of fundamental rights such as basic services, education and health.
One of the most recent examples of these abuses took place on April 7th. As the world tried to understand how the new Coronavirus pandemic was changing life in cities, many indigenous communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon were left without water after the collapse of the bases and pipes of the Trans-Ecuadorian Pipeline System and the Heavy Crude Oil Pipeline .
The immense oil spill on the waters of the Coca River, located on the border between the Amazonian provinces Napo and Sucumbíos, has put the communities that live there and on which they depend in obvious danger. With no rivers to fish in, they have been left without their main source of food. Without water, survival has become a daily battle.
The oil companies responsible for the spill have delivered some food rations and bottles of water, but neither they nor the Government have agreed on long-term actions that can guarantee the life and health of those who live in the area. While the World Health Organization advises hand washing as the main form of prevention against the pandemic, the affected communities barely have a little water to drink.
«Ecuador’s experience is not unique.»
The threats posed by extractive activities that operate uncontrollably through hydroelectric, oil, mining and logging plants, today the covid-19 pandemic is added.
To respond to this new threat, the governments of the region have replicated the same historical patterns in the face of the problems of Indigenous peoples: indifference, little to no action taken and imposition. In some cases where actions are carried out, health policies are formulated and applied. These policies often do not respect cultural diversity, and specific budgets are not assigned for the care of Indigenous Peoples.
But the indigenous communities and organizations of the Amazon basin have not waited for help that we know will never come. In the first instance, we have appealed to governments and international organizations to take action and dialogue. This has been done through letters, pronouncements and data collection to warn of the serious situation that Indigenous Peoples are experiencing, in the face of the alarming increase in infections and deaths in the Amazon territory.
Communication channels have been established with various national and local authorities to agree on modes of joint management, to ensure that those who need it can access the care they require in a timely manner. However, our demands so far have not been heard. For this reason and in accordance with our principles as Indigenous Peoples, we have generated our own protocols for care, emergency plans and action, taking into account the needs of each community.
«Not taking action is no longer an option, if we do not act now, we will witness an ethnocide.»
In some cases, for example, we have organized ourselves to limit and control the entry and exit to the communities. In addition, the use of ancestral medicine has increased, our own information and care campaigns have been generated, and specific groups have been formed to provide aid. These groups coordinate the distribution of medicines and food for the most affected sectors.
Faced with the inaction of governments to address our needs, the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) launched a campaign to raise emergency funds. The Fund has the objective of collecting and channeling 100% of the resources to the indigenous communities of the nine countries of the Amazon Basin that are facing the emergency due to covid-19.
Decisions on grants and the administration of the Fund are made under strict coordination and communication by a Governing Council that includes indigenous leaders from COICA and its member organizations, and to a lesser extent, representatives of participating social organizations, donors and advisers. All the proceeds are being destined completely and exclusively to the communities that need it most through the provision of food kits, medical kits and protection supplies. This Fund is a lifeline for many indigenous communities, but it is not enough.
In the context of a pandemic that is likely to continue to spread over time, we need dialogue and action, so that culturally appropriate health policies are formulated and implemented, with plans and budgets specifically aimed at the care of Indigenous Peoples. This is the only possible path if governments really want to take care of the planet’s protectors. Not taking action is no longer an option, if we do not act now, we will witness an ethnocide. Living Amazon, safe humanity.
Written by: Nadino Calapucha: Head of Communication for the Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA).