More About Kichwa

The Last Guardians: A Must-Watch Film Highlights the Indigenous Fight for Environmental Justice

Now available for download and streaming, The Last Guardians takes viewers to the Ecuadorian Amazon to further understand the struggle of indigenous community members as they defend their land and culture against the threats they face from extractive industries. Testimony from leaders like Manari Ushigua and Sabina Gualinga sheds light on their philosophy and way of life and raises awareness on the immeasurable value indigenous knowledge has for our current movement to protect the Amazon and the global climate.

Earth Defenders Risk Life and Limb to Protect the Amazon Rainforest

This World Rainforest Day, we're honoring the indigenous Earth Defenders who are risking life and limb every day. Ecuador, in particular, is a dangerous place to be an Earth Defender. In addition to criminalization – baseless criminal charges used to silence dissent – more and more Earth Defenders are being threatened and physically assaulted.

ENI-AGIP Oil Project Threatens Indigenous Territories in the Ecuadorian Amazon

Indigenous organizations have rejected the company's presence in their territories and an indigenous leader has been subjected to threats and intimidation

"This attack is a reprisal for the struggle that I've been waging to defend life and our territories against the threat that is still being pushed upon us, fossil fuel exploitation in our territories."

The Erin Brockoviches of Ecuador

For these women, environmentalism and women's rights are closely linked: Past drilling projects have resulted in increased assaults, cancer, and infertility.

By fighting to protect their traditional land, indigenous women are making an innovative argument that the lives of the people and the wellbeing of the environment are inextricably linked – and a battle for one is a battle for the other.

Defending Indigenous Lands, Territories, and Resources at the UN

More than 1,000 representatives of indigenous peoples traveled to New York in late April to participate in the 17th Session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Amazon Watch supported and accompanied Amazonian leaders to call for respect and protection of their lives, cultures, and ancestral territories and an end to the harassment and death threats that they routinely face for their relentless opposition to the companies and governments driving the expansion of the fossil fuel frontier in the Amazon.

New Report Shines Light on Dark Days for Amazon Earth Defenders in Ecuador

The Human Rights Watch report found that the Correa government "amassed broad powers to curb public debate of its policies on the environment and other pressing issues..[then] abused these powers to harass, intimidate, and punish Ecuadorians who opposed oil and mining projects that the president endorsed...and used the criminal justice system to target environmentalists and indigenous leaders to be prosecuted."

Keep Off Our Land, Indigenous Women Tell Ecuador's President

Women's movement demands an end to unrestricted oil drilling and mining on indigenous lands and action on violence against land defenders in first meeting with President Lenin Moreno

"Your government cannot permit that our rights continue to be violated," Patricia Gualinga, an indigenous Kichwa from Sarayaku, told the president during the meeting. "Ecuador has to change its energy policy. It could be an example for the world," she said. Gualinga, who received death threats in January, said environmental defenders, particularly women, were increasingly at risk in Ecuador.

From Ecuador's Amazon to President's Palace, Indigenous Women Demand End to Drilling

"Oil has not brought development for the Waorani"

"We will return to our communities and wait for a response from the government," said Zoila Castillo, vice-president of the parliament of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon. "If we do not receive a response in two weeks, we will be back."