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Who are
we?
We are the Shiwiar people, enclosed by the
Amazon jungle, living on the Pastaza river. We belong to the
same cultural and linguistic tradition as the Achuar and Shuar. Our
territory is one of the most pristine and isolated places in the
Amazon basin, located near the Peruvian border and accessible only
by air. Our primary forest is blessed with remarkable levels of
biodiversity. Our population of seven hundred is scattered around
nine different villages within the area. There have been few
intrusions into our territory and we have only recently made contact
with the western world (because of the Peruvian war in 1941).
Sadly, the Ecuadorian Government does not value or respect
the indigenous people of the Amazon. In search of short term profit
they would shamelessly sell our land to multinational companies,
irrevocably destroying the ecosystem and our culture. After a long
political struggle, Ecuador legally recognised us as an independent
nationality, and grated us 89,337 hectares of land. However, we
still have 100,000 hectares of ancestral land to legalise.
Oil was found on our territory during an exploration
campaign made in the 1970's.Thankfully it is still untapped, however
we fear that it is only a matter of time before our territory is
sold, exploited and destroyed. It is therefore imperative that our
land is legalised. Our political representatives, the ONSHIPAE
(Organizacion de la Nacionalidad Shiwiar de Pastaza Amazonía
Ecuatoriana), together with the Pachamama
Alliance, are struggling to obtain legal recognition of our
territory, but it is a difficult and expensive fight. We hope that
ecotourism will generate the funds, support and international
awareness needed for us to succeed. We believe it will also
emphasise the importance of our environment and cultural traditions
to our people, and will generate hope and self respect within our
community.
The FUNSSIF ( Fundación
Shiwiar Sin Fronteras) is a Shiwiar NGO which mission is to
revitalize the Shiwiar culture and promote environmental education
among is people.
The AVUAT (Pascal
Languillon) is a French NGO which goal is to promote the development
of an ecotourism that is really based on fair principles and that
really contributes to the conservation of biodiversity and to
building ecological awareness among tourists.
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