“We don’t accept, and we will not accept, the exploitation of oil in our territories because our vision of the world, our ideas about development, has no place for it. It would be better if the Chinese company gave up on these lots. We are not going to accept the end of our lives and the end of the Sapara nation’s history and world.”
– Gloria Ushiga, Sápara leaderSupport the Sapara and protect the Amazon. On World Environment Day tell the government of China: don’t drill the Amazon!Controversial Chinese investment in Ecuador and oil-backed loans are creating an unprecedented new oil boom in the country’s Amazon region. The region is home to ten different indigenous nationalities and is one of the some of the world’s most pristine and biodiverse forest. Chinese state-owned oil company Andes Petroleum is hoping to operate in the rainforest home of the Sápara and the Kichwa of Sarayaku.China is also considering financing drilling in Yasuni-ITT, one of the most biodiverse places on the planet and the home of Ecuador’s last communities living in voluntary isolation. This must be stopped.
In May, Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang visited South America, and indigenous leaders from the Ecuadorian Amazon urged him to not drill for oil their territory. In 2013, Li promised to use an “iron fist” to punish companies that destroy the environment. Support indigenous communities, ask him to live up to his promise and cancel China’s plans to drill the Amazon.
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