199
their homelands from oil industry and government incursions
10
. I (mt) witnessed
this firsthand at the Rio+20 Summit in June 2012, where I had the opportunity to
deliver a speech in defense of these peoples and their habitat, seated next to several
world leaders, including Correa who there and then laid out his ambitious YasuníITT economic agenda. In the audience of many hundreds there were tribal representatives from throughout the Amazon. A huge array of conference halls on the
outskirts of Rio, with tens of hundreds of paramilitary protecting the 50,000 delegates and other participants. Honest passions, but empty words. Speeches headed
nowhere, while the Amazon continued to burn.
21.2 The Paradox of Opposites in the Same Rainforest
Reynard Loki’s April 10, 2019 examination of those oil tenures that overlap the
nations of “Achuar, Kichwa, Waorani, Shiwiar, Andoa and Sápara” discusses lawsuits filed by Waorani in 2018 against the Ecuadorian ministries that they allege
have enabled a government-held auction of “16 new oil concessions covering nearly
seven million acres of roadless, primary Amazonian forest” far to the south of
Yasuní
11
. “Roadless” represents a key ecological factor in the degree of ecological
edge effect damage
12
. From above, the transition from pristine to destroyed is
emphatic. The transit zones are dusted over with the indifference of mob violence,
in so many hues and forensic blow-by-blow artifacts of human/mechanical transgression. A pit in one’s heart explodes with manifest destinies of melancholy; of
utter hopelessness when you see it on the ground and from a helicopter. All those
endeavoring to save the last remaining rainforest on earth feel the same incredulity,
10 “Indigenous Organizers Halted Plans For Oil Drilling in the Amazon,” by Kimberly Brown,
March 13, 2019, http://inthesetimes.com/article/21730/indigenous-organizers-halt-oil-drillingamazon-ecuador, Accessed April 13, 2019; See also, “Indigenous peoples go to court to save the
Amazon from oil company greed – Historic lawsuit launched by the Waorani people of Ecuador to
save their homes – and our planet – from destruction,” by Reynard Loki, Nation of Change, Earth/
FoodLife, Independent Media Institute, April 10, 2019, https://www.nationofchange.
org/2019/04/10/indigenous-peoples-go-to-court-to-save-the-amazon-from-oil-company-greed/.
Accessed April 13, 2019.
11 See “Indigenous Women Activists Fight to Save Ecuador’s Land,” by Julia Travers, March 26,
2019, in LABROOTS, https://www.labroots.com/trending/earth-and-the-environment/8370/indigenous-women-activists-fight-save-ecuador-s-land, Accessed April 13, 2019)
12 “Road-Edge Effects on Herpetofauna in a Lowland Amazonian Rainforest,” Ross
J. Maynard, Nathalie C. Aall, Daniel Saenz, et. al., First Published March 1, 2016, https://doi.
org/10.1177/194008291600900114, Sage Journals, Tropical Conservation Science, https://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog?doi=10.1177%2F194008291600900114&domain=journals.sagepub.
com&uri_scheme=https%3A&cm_version=v2.0, Accessed April 13, 2019; See also, “Ecuador has
begun drilling for oil in the world’s richest rainforest, The country is poised to cash in on one of its
most valuable assets. But at what cost?” By Jason G. Goldman Jan 14, 2017, VOX, https://www.
vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/1/14/14265958/ecuador-drilling-oil-rainforest, Accessed
April 13, 2019.
21.2 The Paradox of Opposites in the Same Rainforest
their homelands from oil industry and government incursions
10
. I (mt) witnessed
this firsthand at the Rio+20 Summit in June 2012, where I had the opportunity to
deliver a speech in defense of these peoples and their habitat, seated next to several
world leaders, including Correa who there and then laid out his ambitious YasuníITT economic agenda. In the audience of many hundreds there were tribal representatives from throughout the Amazon. A huge array of conference halls on the
outskirts of Rio, with tens of hundreds of paramilitary protecting the 50,000 delegates and other participants. Honest passions, but empty words. Speeches headed
nowhere, while the Amazon continued to burn.
21.2 The Paradox of Opposites in the Same Rainforest
Reynard Loki’s April 10, 2019 examination of those oil tenures that overlap the
nations of “Achuar, Kichwa, Waorani, Shiwiar, Andoa and Sápara” discusses lawsuits filed by Waorani in 2018 against the Ecuadorian ministries that they allege
have enabled a government-held auction of “16 new oil concessions covering nearly
seven million acres of roadless, primary Amazonian forest” far to the south of
Yasuní
11
. “Roadless” represents a key ecological factor in the degree of ecological
edge effect damage
12
. From above, the transition from pristine to destroyed is
emphatic. The transit zones are dusted over with the indifference of mob violence,
in so many hues and forensic blow-by-blow artifacts of human/mechanical transgression. A pit in one’s heart explodes with manifest destinies of melancholy; of
utter hopelessness when you see it on the ground and from a helicopter. All those
endeavoring to save the last remaining rainforest on earth feel the same incredulity,
10 “Indigenous Organizers Halted Plans For Oil Drilling in the Amazon,” by Kimberly Brown,
March 13, 2019, http://inthesetimes.com/article/21730/indigenous-organizers-halt-oil-drillingamazon-ecuador, Accessed April 13, 2019; See also, “Indigenous peoples go to court to save the
Amazon from oil company greed – Historic lawsuit launched by the Waorani people of Ecuador to
save their homes – and our planet – from destruction,” by Reynard Loki, Nation of Change, Earth/
FoodLife, Independent Media Institute, April 10, 2019, https://www.nationofchange.
org/2019/04/10/indigenous-peoples-go-to-court-to-save-the-amazon-from-oil-company-greed/.
Accessed April 13, 2019.
11 See “Indigenous Women Activists Fight to Save Ecuador’s Land,” by Julia Travers, March 26,
2019, in LABROOTS, https://www.labroots.com/trending/earth-and-the-environment/8370/indigenous-women-activists-fight-save-ecuador-s-land, Accessed April 13, 2019)
12 “Road-Edge Effects on Herpetofauna in a Lowland Amazonian Rainforest,” Ross
J. Maynard, Nathalie C. Aall, Daniel Saenz, et. al., First Published March 1, 2016, https://doi.
org/10.1177/194008291600900114, Sage Journals, Tropical Conservation Science, https://crossmark.crossref.org/dialog?doi=10.1177%2F194008291600900114&domain=journals.sagepub.
com&uri_scheme=https%3A&cm_version=v2.0, Accessed April 13, 2019; See also, “Ecuador has
begun drilling for oil in the world’s richest rainforest, The country is poised to cash in on one of its
most valuable assets. But at what cost?” By Jason G. Goldman Jan 14, 2017, VOX, https://www.
vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/1/14/14265958/ecuador-drilling-oil-rainforest, Accessed
April 13, 2019.
21.2 The Paradox of Opposites in the Same Rainforest