BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Ecuador’s plans to offer dozens of blocks of land for oil exploration for more than $47 billion has prompted opposition from seven Indigenous peoples in the Amazon. Those groups say 18 of the proposed blocks overlap their ancestral territories and that they were not consulted. Government officials say their plan is […]

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Ecuador’s plans to offer dozens of blocks of land for oil exploration for more than $47 billion has prompted opposition from seven Indigenous peoples in the Amazon. Those groups say 18 of the proposed blocks overlap their ancestral territories and that they were not consulted. Government officials say their plan is key to modernizing an oil sector that supplies Ecuador’s top export. The dispute comes amid a state of emergency and a national strike over fuel prices, extractive projects and the government’s failure to honor a referendum limiting drilling in Yasuní National Park. By: Steven Grattan, Associated Press Banner image: Waorani Indigenous people march to the Constitutional Court to protest for their right to consultation before the bidding for the exploration and exploitation of oil and gas on their territory in Quito, Ecuador, May 13, 2025. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa, File)This article was originally published on Mongabay

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