How indigenous peoples won a landmark victory protecting the Amazon from oil drilling

[Judi Lynn]

The Waorani people of Ecuador won a historic lawsuit to save their homes — and the planet — from destruction

REYNARD LOKI
JUNE 1, 2019 6:00PM (UTC)

This article was produced by Earth | Food | Life, a project of the Independent Media Institute.
On May 16, hundreds of Indigenous peoples traveled from different regions of the Ecuadorian Amazon to the capital city of Quito to demand respect for the April 26 historic court ruling, in which the Waorani people of Ecuador successfully defended half a million acres of Indigenous territory in the Amazon rainforest from oil drilling. Coming after two weeks of deliberations, the landmark decision by the three-judge panel of the Pastaza Provincial Court immediately and indefinitely suspended plans to auction around 180,000 hectares of Indigenous Waorani territory to oil companies. It represents a major setback for the Ecuadorian government.

The total land area that the ruling protects, at least for now, is much larger even than the land that was up for auction. According to Amazon Frontlines, a nonprofit advocacy group that assisted the Waorani’s legal case, “The verdict also disrupts the contemplated auctioning of 16 oil blocks that cover over 7 million acres of Indigenous territory by providing an invaluable legal precedent for other Indigenous nations across the Ecuadorian Amazon.”

At the May 16 mobilization in Quito, Indigenous groups also denounced the government’s statements following the ruling. “We hope that in the appeal that sentence can be reversed,” said Minister of Energy and Non-Renewable Natural Resources Carlos Perez. Disregarding Indigenous autonomy and rights, Perez added: “It is not possible to make regional or local decisions about certain things that have a national impact as in the case of hydrocarbons and mining.” In their ruling, the judges stood by the standards of the Constitutional Court of Ecuador and international law. Decisions about Indigenous territory simply cannot be made by the central government unilaterally.

Specifically, the ruling voids the consultation process with the Waorani that was undertaken by the Ecuadorian government in 2012, which the judges said violated the Waorani’s right to free, prior and informed consultation and to self-determination. The ruling said that the consultation was done in bad faith, failed to properly inform the Waorani of the risks and impacts of the government’s plans to auction off their territory, and didn’t take into consideration Waorani culture or traditional decision-making methods.

More:
https://www.salon.com/2019/06/01/how-indigenous-peoples-won-a-landmark-victory-protecting-the-amazon-from-oil-drilling_partner/

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread Judi Lynn.