By Alexandra Valencia
QUITO (Reuters) – Indigenous communities in Ecuador on Tuesday submitted hundreds of thousands of signatures to the country’s highest court demanding the right to make final decisions on the use of ancestral lands they say are threatened by the expansion of extractive projects.
The A’i Cofan and Waorani indigenous communities, from Sinangoe village and Pastaza province, respectively, collected more than 365,000 signatures from around the world to present to the Constitutional Court of Ecuador, where they demanded guarantees of the right to prior consent on extractive projects.
Prior consultation for extractive sectors is now available for communities living close to proposed projects in neighboring Peru and Colombia.
In recent years, both communities have won lawsuits in local courts to suspend mining and oil exploration in their territories, which form some of Ecuador’s most diverse areas.
“We want the Constitutional Court to rule on guaranteeing our right to life,” Silvana Nihua, president of the Pastaza Waorani Organization, told reporters outside the courthouse. “We have decided that our territory is not for sale.”
The Constitutional Court could rule on the A’i Cofan community’s demand over mining projects as early as Wednesday, according to community leaders.
Last year, court judges visited the community in the Ecuadorian jungle to hear indigenous demands during a historic hearing.
The Constitutional Court was not immediately available for comment.
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