In Ecuador, the Waorani community demands a halt to oil exploitation on their land

The indigenous Waorani community in Ecuador is protesting against oil exploitation on their land, particularly in the Yasuni Nature Reserve, a world biosphere reserve.

In an interview with AFP on Wednesday, September 5, Ene Nenquimo, a member of the Ecuadorian indigenous community of the Waorani, warned about the oil exploitation of their lands. She is the cousin of Nemonte Nenquimo, nicknamed the Erin Brokowitch of the Waorani. The lands concerned are in the Yasuni Nature Reserve, a world biosphere reserve, which is home to 600 species of birds, more than 200 species of mammals and hundreds of species of amphibians and reptiles.

Like his cousin, named personality Time of the year in 2020, Ene Nenquimo is outraged, because today, the lands and their wealth are threatened. However, the Ecuadorian Constitution recognizes indigenous peoples, “the collective ownership of these lands, as an ancestral form of territorial organization”However, if the State does not own the land, it retains full power over the resources of the subsoil.

At many points, the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest is now home to about 80 oil blocks with their wells and pipelines. Recently, a leak contaminated the river and springs of several villages. The state oil company Petroecuador pleaded guilty, but such leaks occur frequently, poisoning the soil, animals and humans.

Ene Nenquimo is therefore calling for an immediate halt to these drilling operations. Especially since in 2023, 59% of Ecuadorian voters voted to stop the exploitation of one of the blocks, known as Block 43, part of which is located in the Yasuni Reserve. Within a year, all 247 wells in the block were to be closed, and actor Leonardo DiCaprio had hailed this referendum as “an example of the democratization of climate policy.”

NGOs even spoke of a historic victory for the planet, a country having decided, for the first time, to defend life and leave oil in the ground. In 2024, almost a year after the vote, only one well out of 247 was finally closed and the State announced that the end of exploitation would take at least 5 years.