Mother and son, Mukusawa and Andres Ushigua, from the Sapara community of Llanchamacocha. Photo from the documentary ´Reimagining Progress - Voices from the Ecuadorian Amazon´."
Indigenous communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon are facing considerable threats to their territorial integrity from the Chinese-owned Andes Petroleum. This puts them once again on the front line to preserve the Amazon on which the international community depends in its battle with climate change. Their resistance is inspiring and sees them pitted against some extremely powerful interests, but by employing an internationalist approach with partners drawn from across the world they have had some remarkable successes over recent years.
In the wake of the recently ratified Paris climate change agreement, which gives formal recognition to forests, and with the increased drive to enhance conservation efforts through the REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) mechanism, it is becoming increasingly clear that the efforts of those at the front lines resisting the detrimental effects of the global reliance on fossil fuels need to be recognised and their voices included to a much greater extent within the debate.
