Mapping ancestral lands of the Ecuadorian Amazon
Mapping Waorani Ancestral Territory Along the Curaray River
Territorial recuperation and reunification in Siekopa'ai territory on the Ecuador-Peru border
In Ecuador, the Siekopa’ai have no legal title or recognized rights over their ancestral territory and have been corralled into a much reduced territory of 50,000 acres situated over 100 miles from their ancestral territory and surrounded by oil fields, mega-scale African Palm plantations and a network of roads that accelerate illegal logging and land invasion. Lagarto Cocha, located along the border of Peru is an integral part of the Siekopa’ai’s ancestral territory.
We face a pivotal moment in the conservation of this unique rainforest and the Siekopa’ai’s ancestral culture deeply tied to this land. The Siekopa’ai of Ecuador and Peru are working jointly with ClearWater and the Ceibo Alliance to create strategic village sites, map ancestral migration routes and produce video-testimony to support land claims, achieve dual-citizenship for all Siekopa’ai people, and legally and culturally recover more than a million acres of their ancestral rainforest territory.
Indigenous rights defenders
Through the Indigenous Rights Defenders program, Ceibo and ClearWater are training local indigenous advocates on legal skills and strategies that both reduce and protect community members from the impact of harmful infrastructure and resource extraction within their own communities. This year, we have provided eleven week-long training meetings to twelve Indigenous Rights Defenders from nine different communities in order to develop and enhance their capacity to identify and map threats to their lands and livelihoods, document and monitor those threats, and devise community-based legal and advocacy strategies to resolve legal issues in concrete and enduring ways.
Beyond the training sessions, the Indigenous Rights Defenders program’s aim is to foster and support action in the defense of the Defenders’ indigenous territories. In 2016, the Indigenous Rights Defenders filed 179 complaints, reports, or official requests with government institutions or courts.
To give just a few examples, Indigenous Rights Defenders won a significant case against the state-owned oil company PetroAmazonas for illegally constructing an oil pipeline on Siona territory, and on the other side of the river, are accompanying the Siona community of Buenavista in their staunch resistance to proposed seismic testing in their territory by the London based oil-company Amerisur.
Cultural revival in the Amazon
Recovering the ancient Yoko vine
Traditionally, the Yoko vine has been wild-harvested and rasped each dawn before the morning practices of twining chambira, sharing dreams and the counseling the youth begings. Today, nearly depleted from many of this regions’ indigenous territories, the Siekopa'ai and Siona Nations have prioritized its recovery. In 2016, the ClearWater and Ceibo teams helped collect and plant more than 1000 Yoco seedlings within 7 one-hectare garden sites.
Building ceremonial logdes
In the fall of 2016, ClearWater and the Ceibo Alliance inaugurated a ceremonial lodge in the Cofán community of Zábalo, a historical moment to recover perhaps what is the most culture-defining practice of the Cofán people. In addition to the central lodge, the Ceibo and ClearWater teams also facilitated the construction of an adjacent yagé cooking space, gender-specific restrooms, a bridge crossing, and silvicultural advice and interventions to the lodges’ surrounding one-acre plot of yagé vines. Inspired by the success of this project, three other Cofán communities have begun building their own ceremonial houses with the help of our teams.
Transfer of traditional knowledge and practices
The Ceibo Alliance is also facilitating a number of community based initiatives focused on the transfer of traditional knowledge and practices that are deemed quintessential for the four unique indigenous cultures. During the second semester of 2016, the women of the Siekopai community of Siekoya Remolino prioritized the teaching of the ‘tiesto’ or clay plate used in the making of cassava tortillas. The breadth of the teachings included; the collection and identification of the specific silicate-rich tree bark that is burned and blended with the clay for strengthening; the excavation and quality-testing of clay; the proportionate mixing of the clay and and ash; and finally, the two-week process of forming, scraping, polishing, and drying the clay before the ‘moment-of-truth’ firing of the plate with a dry bamboo kindling.
Women and family program
The combined force of government paternalism, the growth in the presence and work of extractive industries in the region and the incursion of Western viewpoints and values has had significant negative effects on the communities and women of the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon. During 2016, Ceibo and ClearWater worked with over 450 women from 19 communities in the four nationalities. We initiated five socio-productive initiatives, two community-run businesses and one women’s association. We held approximately 30 meetings and training sessions on community organizing, women’s ancestral practices, self-esteem, leadership, traditional medicine and following through with work plans.
Waorani Women leadership
In 2016, our efforts to create relationships of trust with the existing Waorani women’s organization have resulted in creating joint plans with the Asociación de Mujeres Waorani de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana (AMWAE). For example, we have begun accompanying and strengthening the association’s leadership by conducting training in artisanal techniques with approximately 80 women, men and children in Dicaro, Giyero, Yarentaro, Timpoca and Yoweweno communities located along the Via Maxus oil road.
Siekopa'ai community sewing
In 2016, we took our first steps toward the legalization of a women’s association in the community of Sewaya and in so doing we made strides toward our dream of building the foundation for a Siekopaai community sewing and fashion business. We collectively built a work schedule to outline the acquisition of equipment, technical training for the women and the eventual operation of the workshop.
“THROUGH CEIBO AND CLEARWATER, WOMEN ARE UNITING AND EXCHANGING KNOWLEDGE WITH OTHER NATIONALITIES AND CULTURES. EACH NATIONALITY IS CONTRIBUTING ITS KNOWLEDGE, INCREASING OUR LOVE FOR THE RAINFOREST AND OUR CULTURE. UNITED, THE WOMEN ARE STRONGER. FROM THIS UNION IDEAS WHICH HELP COMMUNITIES AND FAMILIES ARE BORN.” ALICIA SALAZAR, ALIANZA CEIBO.
Clean water to all four Nations of the Alliance
ClearWater and the Ceibo Alliance continue to make important headway towards our goal of providing every family of the Cofán, Siona, Siekopa'ai and Waorani Nationalities of Ecuador’s northern Amazon with safe, reliable access to clean water. In 2016, Ceibo installed 149 rainwater catchment systems for family homes in Cofan, Siona, Waorani and Secoya communities, and provided maintenance to 18 catchment systems in Secoya territory.
The installations in Sotosiaya, Mañoko and San Pablo- Siekoya Remolino mark an important achievement for ClearWater and the Ceibo Alliance as now every Siona and Siekopa'ai family in Ecuador has safe, reliable access to clean water via a family-sized rainwater harvesting system.
Bringing Solar Power to the Amazon
After a successful pilot project in 2016 where we installed 44 solar systems for the Waorani, Secoya and Cofan Nations, in 2017 we are gearing up to install over 150 family-sized solar systems in more than 10 roadless communities across the Amazon rainforest, fostering autonomy, self-sufficiency, and conservation in indigenous villages threatened by the expanding industrial frontier.