On April 7, 2020 in the Ecuadorian Amazon, the Napo and Coca rivers turned dark with oil and fuel from three ruptured pipelines, producing the worst environmental disaster of the last 15 years. More than 15,000 gallons (almost 57,000 liters) spilled into the rivers, affecting 35,000 people directly and more than 120,000 indirectly, many of them Kichwa indigenous people from 105 communities.
I contacted Olger Gallo, president of the Kichwa community of Panduyaku. âWe see oil coming down the riverbed, help us report what is happening,â he said. âThe young people went out fishing in the early morning and when they returned their bodies were covered in oil. We need urgent help,â he told me.
Quito, Ecuador – Environmentalists and Indigenous communities in Ecuador are concerned about the fate of the Amazon rainforest ahead of Sunday’s presidential elections, as the two leading candidates’ environmental plans received moderate to poor rankings from advocates.
Illegal logging, oil spills and large-scale mining projects have threatened both the rainforest, often called the lungs of the planet, and local Indigenous communities during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has spurred an economic crisis across the country.
But environmental issues have been largely ignored in presidential debates ahead of the vote, in which 16 candidates are competing to be the next Ecuadorian president – all on vastly different environmental platforms that could shape the Amazon’s fate.