Indigenous Women Protest Amazon Oil Expansion

About 30 indigenous women from across Ecuador’s Amazon region toured areas affected by oil extraction to witness firsthand the environmental impacts and strengthen their resistance against further expansion. The women, representing seven Indigenous communities, visited polluted streams, pipelines, and gas flaring sites in the northern Amazon province of Sucumbíos.

The tour, organized as a “toxitour,” aimed to connect women from areas facing proposed oil projects with communities that have lived alongside the industry for decades. Many oil blocks overlap Indigenous territories, making these communities among the first to experience contamination of rivers, forests, and food sources.

Julia Catalina Chumbi, a 76-year-old leader from the Shuar ethnic group in Pastaza province, traveled hundreds of miles to see the damage for herself. She was shocked to learn that residents near oil fields can no longer safely drink from local rivers due to contamination and health fears.

Ecuador’s government recently unveiled a sweeping “hydrocarbon road map” proposing a major expansion of the country’s oil and gas sector, worth about $47 billion. The plan includes new licensing rounds for exploration blocks in the Amazon and other regions, many of which are located in provinces where Indigenous communities live.

Environmental groups and Indigenous leaders warn that these projects could open large areas of rainforest to drilling, pipelines, and gas flaring. They also highlight the lack of free, prior, and informed consent required under Ecuador’s constitution and international human rights agreements. The debate over fossil fuel expansion in the Amazon is expected to feature at an international conference in Santa Marta, Colombia, in April.