Protectors of the Amazon

In 2003, an oil company entered the indigenous Sarayaku community’s territory in the Ecuadorian Amazon in search of oil.

Neither the government nor the firm had consulted the community beforehand.

The locals responded by filing a lawsuit against the company. The ruling of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights would go onto become an important case for indigenous communities all over the world.

Former Sarayaku president Jose Gualing and community leader Ena Santi recall the landmark case.

A Munck Studios production for BBC World Service presented by Isak Rautio.

(Photo: Ecuadorian rainforest. Credit: Fabio Cuttica/Reuters)