With court's backing, Ecuador's indigenous block Amazon mining

Verde AgriTech

01/04/2022 14:00

By Alexandra Valencia
    SINANGOE, Ecuador April 1 (Reuters) - Armed with spears,
their faces painted, members of the A'i Cofan community's
indigenous guard prepare to patrol the banks of the Aguarico
River in Ecuador's Amazon, ready to confiscate equipment and
call in the police if they find miners on their ancestral land.
    "We go down (the river) and document all the people who have
entered," guard coordinator Nixon Andy, 24, said. "When we come
across strangers on our territory we speak peacefully, but if
there isn't respect there are authorities to whom we can
report."
    The guard's work is backed by the Constitutional Court,
which in February ruled indigenous communities have the right to
give prior consent to major extractive projects which take place
in their territories or which could affect their way of life.
They can veto both major mining and oil projects and small-scale
informal production.
    Legal success for the Cofan and challenges from other
communities are undermining the investment ambitions of
President Guillermo Lasso, who wants to attract foreign capital
to mining projects.
    The Cofan community, located in Sinangoe near the Colombian
border, launched its fight against mining in 2017, arguing the
industry was damaging the Aguarico, the main source of food for
53 families living along its banks.
    Disagreement over the scope of the ruling remains, and the
mining industry says the decision is an abrupt change which will
affect investment and create more legal instability.
    The mining industry and authorities say the ruling affects
only future projects and should not halt those already cleared
for development, like Chinese consortium Ecuagoldmining's Rio
Blanco gold-silver project or Canadian company Dundee Precious
Metals' Loma Larga gold project.
    But indigenous communities and activist groups argue the
decision applies to all projects, requiring companies to get
consent as they move ahead to different stages.
    Indigenous groups also have warned, including at a recent
meeting of leaders from 500 communities across the Amazon basin,
that rulings could be ineffectual without action from the
government.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VI28Z
    "Now if any community says no, the state must respect that
decision and guarantee what we want for our home," said Cofan
community leader Wider Guaramag. "We are the ones who suffer
from mining."
    The government - which has targeted a doubling in mining
exports to $4 billion in the next three years, but not given a
figure for how much investment could leave Ecuador if projects
are halted - has said it is reviewing the decision.
    "An extractive project rejected by the community could go
ahead in exceptional circumstances, but subject to very clear
rules," said Jorge Acero, a lawyer for the Amazon Frontlines
advocacy group. "The risk is that the government considers that
(situation) to be the rule when it's the exception."
    As part of their decision, the court also ratified a ruling
ordering gold concessions in Cofan territory be reversed because
the community was not consulted.
    "The court rulings upset the apple cart from one moment to
the next," said Andres Ycaza, a lawyer for the private
Ecuadorean Chamber of Mining. "In the Cofan case, it sets
standards that are without a doubt an untimely change in the
rules."
    Indigenous communities in Peru - the world's second-largest
producer of copper - are also fighting new projects, while
large-scale mines in Colombia have been scuppered by referendums
and rulings.
    
JUST THE BEGINNING
    Ecuador's mining industry could benefit from political
instability in Peru, a new leftist government in Chile and
uncertainty over Colombian presidential elections, but the
ruling may thwart that.
    "Ecuador has an opportunity: its neighbors are not having a
good time and mineral prices are rising," Ycaza said. "All these
opportunities could disappear thanks to this."
    Though the government has questioned the ruling, it is
analyzing how to reverse concessions to comply, Deputy Minister
of Mines Xavier Vera Grunauer told Reuters.
    "We are concerned because the government is working hard to
make the mining sector a pillar of the economy," Vera Grunauer
said. 
    If a project is rejected by the community, the state must
either adjust it to benefit the affected group or justify why it
must go ahead despite opposition.
    Other indigenous communities in Ecuador's Amazon like the
Waorani and the Shuar Arutam are also fighting to block oil and
mining and have filed a lawsuit before the court to stop Lasso's
extractive plans.
    While the Cofan have so far been one of few communities to
successfully suspend mining in its territory, other threats
remain. 
    The 26 young people who make up the indigenous guard  -
Ecuador's first - also confront loggers, poachers and fishermen.
    The community has laws - recognized by the court - which
allow it to order violators out, confiscate equipment and bring
in police. 
    "It won't be easy to enter our territories because we are
going to continue standing up," Alexandra Narvaez, the guard's
first woman, told Reuters before the patrol.
     "This struggle is just beginning."

 (Reporting by Alexandra Valencia
Writing by Oliver Griffin and Julia Symmes Cobb; editing by
Diane Craft)
 ((julia.cobb@thomsonreuters.com; +57-316-389-7187))