Las Lianas combines the twin goals of defending indigenous cultures and protecting the environment. We often speak of the importance of the rainforest and ancestral lands to cultural survival, but it is equally true that indigenous cultural traditions and local autonomy are key to protecting the rainforest. The satellite images reproduced here provide striking evidence of this latter point and of the urgency of our work.

These views of Secoya lands and the surrounding region show the advance of deforestation in northeastern Ecuador in recent decades. Industrial farming of African palms for oil has caused massive deforestation on the southwest boarder of Secoya territory. Oil development followed by colonization has driven forest loss to the north. The less disturbed areas to the northeast and south include other indigenous lands and two parks. Secoya territory provides a critical buffer zone for this area.

The images reveal how much better-preserved are the forests inside Secoya territory than in the surrounding areas. Some clearing (for small scale farming) has taken place in Secoya territory along the Aguarico River, but this pales compared to the clearing done by settlers along one segment of the river to which the Secoya lost ownership back in the 1980s.

The information provided by these satellite images corresponds to what we see on the ground. For example, the landscape passed by these Secoya children traveling on the Aguarico River is not what their parents once saw. Where colonists from other parts of Ecuador have settled, the forest has been cleared for cattle and faming. It is very different from the forest they see when traveling past lands still managed by their families.

The close correlation between intact forests and intact cultures highlights the importance of an integrated approach to cultural survival and environmental preservation. Las Lianas supports the efforts of the Secoya and other indigenous partners to protect their land and culture through a variety of activities. Sometimes the environmental benefits are immediately obvious, as with the prevention of the building of roads at two different points during oil exploration in Secoya territory, or our legal support for the Achuar and Shiwiar peoples in southeastern Ecuador to secure title to their traditional lands and protect them from development.

Equally important, however, is the development of alternatives to destructive development, such as our aquaculture initiative, so that indigenous communities can continue to live sustainably in the forest. Rainforest peoples need such renewable local resources to provide for their families and to continue to their way of life. It is through their cultural survival and economic well-being that they retain the capacity to hold the line against the destruction of the forest.