Yasuni: nature and ancestral culture

In the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve the inhabitants live in harmony with nature. Yasuni translates to ‘sacred land’ and the indigenous tribes that live in this part of Amazonia, treat it as sacred, because it sustains them, which is as true today as it was for their ancestors in the mists of the past. Ecuadorian Amazonia is the home to the Kichwa, part of the indigenous population that inhabits the whole of the Amazon Basin. They get their name from the dialect of the language which is the root of all the indigenous tongues in that part of Amazonia. Once, they were part of the Inca Empire, but the arrival of the Spanish changed all that.

They believe in a ‘Mother Earth’ and see themselves as a part of nature, not outside of it or dominant over it, instead they live alongside it. Also, they believe that no one can own the land, only use it for their immediate needs and sparingly. Of course, this clashes with European beliefs and in Ecuador,…