___Following 80 years of displacement, Indigenous Siekopai communities regained ownership of their ancestral Amazonian homeland on Ecuador’s border with Peru. The ruling is historic because it’s the first time an Indigenous community whose ancestral territory lies within a nationally protected area will receive title to the land. After winning a historic lawsuit, an Indigenous community in Ecuador has finally obtained legal ownership of its land in a protected area — 80 years since being forcibly displaced. After the conflict ended, in 1979, the Ecuadorian state took ownership of Pë’këya and turned it into a protected area, known as the Cuyabeno Wildlife Reserve, without the Siekopai’s consent. According to Justino Piaguaje, the territory is no longer technically a protected area; it is Siekopai territory, and the environment ministry doesn’t exercise control over it.

Source: CNN February 01, 2024 13:46 UTC