Indigenous people in Yasuni

The total indigenous population of the Ecuadorian Amazon is estimated at over 150,000, which is about 30% of the total population of the Ecuadorian Amazon, and roughly equivalent to the indigenous population of the much larger Brazilian Amazon (Gray et al. 2008). The North Ecuadorian Amazon is habituated by mestizo colonists, an urban population and the five largest indigenous groups in the Northern Ecuadorian Amazon (NEA): Kichwa, Shuar, Wuaorani, Cofán, and Secoya (Gray et al. 2008).

According to Gray (2005), in 1967 when significant petroleum deposits were discovered, the region was occupied primarily by dispersed indigenous populations and land cover was dominated by highly biodiverse humid tropical lowland forest. Subsequent oil exploration and extraction necessitated extensive road construction which led to agricultural colonisation, widespread deforestation and ultimately the growth of urban areas.

Some indigenous communities continue to exist within the core zone of colonisation but others have retreated east and south from the roads into the surrounding forests and protected areas, including Yasuní National Park, the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, and the large Wuaorani indigenous territory.

Gray (2008) mentions that the Wuaorani are the least assimilated of Ecuador’s indigenous peoples and was peacefully contacted for the first time only in 1958, having previously repelled outsiders through threats and acts of violence. Around 2,000 Wuaorani occupy a large legal indigenous territory in the southern NEA of 679,130 hectares (Gray et al. 2005) including Yasuní National Park.

According to Gray (2005), many traditional indigenous land uses have historically been ecologically sustainable in the context of low population densities and isolation from external markets, but contemporary transformations of indigenous livelihoods include the adoption of unsustainable practices that resemble those of migrant colonists, putting into question the long-term sustainability of indigenous forest management.