For my second blog post, I wanted to research how exactly indigenous tribes can play a role in environmental sustainability and conservation efforts. In my international studies class, we discussed how the Cofan tribe in Ecuador has been allowed rights to their indigenous lands and how it has been the “low-hanging fruit of conservation” (Zaitchik). Beyond learning about how they have been able to acquire this right with the law, I was curious as to the background of this tribe and the methods they use as far as conservation efforts go. I feel as though this topic is incredibly relevant to triple bottom line, as it allows cultural trends to persist within the government with a purpose of conserving sacred lands.

In 1955, the Cofan people were the only ones living amongst a well-kept forest in Ecuador. In 1970, the State of Ecuador claimed the Cofan land as “Cayambe Coca National Park”, which is where the fight over land ownership began (Zaitchik). Only 5 years following the land claim, a colony of Mestizos would come onto the land by the creation of roads, in the pursuit of “vast quantities of oil” (Borman). Similarly, many indigenous Cofan people were suspicious that pollutants were being used that contaminated the fish supply. When the Cofan’s attempted to create an inland fish pond for themselves, “Ecuador’s Environmental Ministry attempted to shut it down before they could complete it”, but the community said they would not recognize this, and the fishpond still remains today (Zaitchik). While the Ministry is supposed to have the best intentions for the indigenous people, their idea of “conservation” created a more important issue than respecting indigenous rights.

Following this, a boom of tourism began to occur in the Cofan tribe. This created issues amongst the people, as moral issues for tourists are not the same as the indigenous people and the indigenous way of life was far disconnected from those moral expectations. Interestingly, an account from Randy Borman, person of Cofan descent, tells how the tourism altered the culture and made the Cofan more willing to act as guides instead of “entertainment”. He describes how the tourism sparks a more meaningful purpose while also incorporating community traditions for the younger people. Similarly, Borman mentions that they do not sell indigenous clothing or go through sacred tribal routines, as they would rather act as guides for the land. Borman goes on to say, “a deep conservation ethic…has helped the Cofan community to create [projects] which combine outsider science with our traditional knowledge”, showing that the influence from outside sources can be functional for indigenous lands (Borman).

While the Cofan struggled over ownership of their indigenous land, a monumental change came in 2003: at the World Parks Congress, “delegates from 154 countries formalized a commitment to what they called ‘rights-based’ conservation”, which included indigenous people as a form of management in their protected areas while also respecting their “the lands, territories and resources which they have traditionally owned, occupied or otherwise used or acquired” (Zaitchik). To bring everything up to current time, the new movement towards conservation has prompted for increasing rights being given to the indigenous people. While many indigenous groups still deal with injustice, “More than 550 conservation and indigenous rights advocacy organizations have joined a global campaign, Land Rights Now, to double the area of recognized indigenous land by 2020” meaning this movement is gaining a lot of traction (Zaitchik). Overall, indigenous people have been on these lands far longer than industrialization has been occurring, and these people know how to maintain a healthy environment for these fragile lands. When governmental systems acknowledge this, conservation is able to occur in a more natural way.

Works Cited

Borman, Randy. “Cofan: Story of the Forest People and the Outsiders.” Cultural Survival, www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/cofan-story-forest-people-and-outsiders.

Zaitchik, Alexander. “From Conservation to Colonization.” Foreign Policy, Foreign Policy, 16 July 2018, foreignpolicy.com/2018/07/16/how-conservation-became-colonialism-environment-indigenous-people-ecuador-mining/.