Amazonian Land Defenders Attacked by Oil Companies

Wia is land defender from the Waorani tribe defending the Yasuni jungle in the Amazon; the rainforests Wia and the Waorani people protect are vital for the health of our planet. The Amazon rainforest is a critical carbon sink; tropical rainforests store an estimated quarter of carbon in the terrestrial biosphere, and the Amazon is one of the most biodiverse places on Earth. The Amazon is known as "the lungs of the Earth;" the world owes an incredible debt to these land defenders because without their work, the planet would have lost essential carbon sinks and biodiversity.

Today, however, the Waorani tribe is chronically underfunded and they face dire threats to their safety and sovereignty.

The Yasuni Jungle is the ancestral territory of the Waorani people, yet oil and gas companies are violently trying to steal this land from the Waorani protectors in order to exploit it for profits.

All funds donated here will be sent via Western Union to Wia to cover medical expenses for land defenders attacked by actors connected to oil companies. Any funds not needed for medical expenses will be used for Waorani community support to aid their struggle for land defense and sovereignty.

Please assist however you can monetarily, and advocate for land sovereignty for Indigenous peoples. Our world owes a great debt to these brave people who are fighting and dying to keep these vital ecosystems safe.

Here is some information from Wia about what is going on, translated from Spanish:

"Waorani is the Ancestral territory. Only when the oil tankers began to arrive... the people who do not own the territory began to want to remove the family so they could exploit which, most of us young people came to see what is happening...those people who do not even own it are [taking it] by force so that the oil companies can come in, so we said enough is enough... They started shooting with firearms and attacking with machetes. They hit some Waoranis who died in this confrontation. We alone did not want to reach so much violence but people started shooting at my people--at women. There are some Waoranis in the hospital even private clinics to do the operation for serious wounds which in Ecuador it is very expensive to have an operation. We do not have money for those things. We are very sad about what happened...still no peace. We are still threatened by those people but talk to the government...we continue to do and work to seek donations to be able to support my people."

"The majority of the youth who are lost and die, according to what they say, it is the same government that orders the killing of its own people just to defend the jungle since the government only sees our jungle as an economy but not a salvation for the future of the world that does not understand."

"There must be an international treaty or agreement on the rights and protection of human and environmental rights activists and defenders."