the other pandemics - CONFENIAE, ecuador
The Ecuadorian Amazon is a diverse place where various indigenous identities coexist, as well as settlers with their modernizing logics and practices, in the midst of growing extractivist pressures. For many people and ecosystems in the Amazon rainforest, this reality is only worsening, as these territories and communities were already in a state of emergency before the pandemic.
In Las Otras Pandemias (The Other Pandemics) the voices of five Amazonian activists are portrayed from a sensory, visual language—with hopes that their reflections will generate empathy and interest in the struggle they face in their different territories and nationalities. Their reflections are centered in community organization, the ecosystem they inhabit, and what they dream of for the future in the middle of the COVID crisis.
This project comes from the Lanceros Digitales of the Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana.
inundacion (flood)
El 17 de marzo de 2020 el río Bobonaza se desborda e inunda la comunidad de Sarayaku. Destruyó tres puentes, decenas de familias perdieron sus hogares, cultivos, y la infraestructura que proporciona agua a la comunidad sufrió daños.
La única manera de hacer frente a está perdida y al COVID19 ha sido a través de la organización comunitaria.
On 17 March 2020 the river Bobonaza broke its banks and flooded the Sarayaku community. The flooding destroyed three bridges, dozens of families lost their homes and crops, and the infrastructure that brought water to the community was damaged.
The only way to face this loss and also COVID 19 was through community organisation.
mineria (mining)
A pesar de la complejidad de la pandemia el gobierno ecuatoriano insiste en dar paso a ambiciosos proyectos mega mineros que causan destrucción y daños irreparables en la selva.
El extractivismo no cesa frente a la crisis humanitaria y sanitaria, de manera que la lucha del Pueblo Shuar Arutam sigue y se determina.
Despite the complexities of the pandemic, the Ecuadorian government insists on making way for ambitious mega mining projects that cause destruction and irreparable damage in the wilderness.
Extractivism doesn't stop in the face of the humanitarian and health crisis so the Shuar Arutam people are determined to continue their struggle.
balseros (logging)
Durante la cuarentena por COVID 19 el pueblo Achuar se refugio en sus territorios dentro del sur amazónico, donde enfrentó la explotación incontrolada de balsa por parte de colonos y comerciantes que ingresaron a sus territorios y bosques.
La balsa es un árbol que crece en los bosques tropicales y es el habitat de varias especies endémicas. Actualmente, esta siendo explotado en grandes cantidades por capitales chinos, triplicando el volumen de deforestación. El costo de esta madera se ha incrementado en un 50%, ya que por ser un material tan liviano es materia prima clave para la creciente industria de energía eólica. Esta realidad se incrementó dramáticamente durante la pandemia y tiene un crecimiento exponencial en toda la Amazonía ecuatoriana.
During the Covid-19 quarantine the Achuar people took refuge in their territories in the southern Amazon, where they were confronted with the out of control exploitation of balsa wood by colonists and traders who invade their lands and forests.
Balsa is a tree that grows in tropical rainforests and is the habitat of many endemic species. It is currently being exploited in huge quantities by Chinese capital, tripling the level of deforestation. The cost of this wood has increased by 50% because of its importance as a key raw material in the growing wind energy industry. During the pandemic there has been a dramatic increase in logging of balsa, an exponential growth which is affecting all the Ecuadorian Amazon.
derrame (Spill)
A pesar de conocer sobre el peligro de derrame con antelación, Petroecuador no tomó ninguna precaución. El 7 de abril del 2020 se produjo el peor derrame de crudo y combustible de los últimos 15 años en la Amazonía ecuatoriana. A partir de este, varios han sido los derrames y sus replicas a lo largo del 2020.
Los efectos son irreparables para los ecosistemas de bosques, ríos y plantaciones, además de la afectación a decenas de familias indígenas y campesinas en el Río Napo y Río Coca.
El agua de las comunidades y ciudades amazónicas, como el Coca, se contaminó afectando directamente la salud de las personas que viven de esta agua y generando vulnerabilidad durante la crisis sanitaria y humanitaria del COVID19.
Despite knowing about the danger of the spill in advance, Petroecuador took no precautions. On April 7, 2020, the worst crude oil spill of the last 15 years occurred in the Ecuadorian Amazon with more occurring throughout 2020.
The effects are irreparable for the ecosystems of forests, rivers and plantations, as well as the impact on dozens of indigenous and peasant families in the Napo River and Coca River.
The water of Amazon communities and cities, such as Coca, was polluted directly affecting the health of people living off this water and generating vulnerability during the COVID19 health and humanitarian crisis.