By Megan Barickman, Development Writer
In June 2018, Global Greengrants Fund awarded a small grant to the Indigenous Cofán community of Sinangöe in Ecuador honoring a modest request to replace the motor in their dugout canoe.
Yet, what resulted from the replaced motor was revolutionary for the community.
The grantees, Centro Cofán Sinangöe, needed the canoe, which had capsized in a previous accident, to patrol vast stretches along the Aguaricó River, looking for signs of illegal mining, fishing, and hunting on their ancestral land.
Prior to their canoe capsizing, the forest guardians had identified 70 illegal incursions onto their land, and successfully removed 30 trespassing miners. Thanks to new motor, the community was able to further monitor, document, and when possible, evict the intruders.
Thanks in large part to the documentation and evidence provided by the Cofán forest guardians, the Sinangöe community celebrated a remarkable victory in the fall of 2018.
In a landmark decision, a provincial court in Ecuador nullified 52 gold-mining projects along the Aguaricó River. The court ruled that the government had violated the Cofán community’s rights to land, water, and resources, as well as to free, prior, and informed consent, by awarding concessions that threatened their water and fish with toxic mercury pollution.
For years, the community had found evidence of the miners’ illegal and destructive presence on their land. Swaths of river bank were stripped raw, fish were poisoned in a prohibited fishing practice, and in the forests, and paths were littered with dangerous shotgun traps, set by the miners to catch wild game.
What worried them most, however, was their suspicion that the miners were using mercury to extract gold from the soil. Their concern was amplified when the government approved mining projects just upriver from Sinangöe.
The Cofán people were already aware of the surveillance needed to protect their precious resources. With just a little support from Global Greengrants Fund, they were able to take their efforts to the next level, sharing their documentation and ultimately saving their land and water.
“We are not just fighting for our people, but for everyone who depends on clean water and clean air,” Mario Criollo, president of the Sinangöe, said in response to the court’s decision. “This victory is a huge step forward for our children and for future generations.”