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During the last few weeks of 2011, we asked you, our global community, to support the critically important campaign to defend our indigenous partners’ pristine rainforest home, and we heartily thank all of you who responded so generously to that year-end appeal for funding for this work.

Petroleum interests inside and outside Ecuador were already at work, too, attempting to influence and divide indigenous communities, and it continues to be difficult for indigenous people to organize and speak out to defend their homes.

Fundación Pachamama is moving quickly to partner with indigenous communities on their education and mobilization efforts, as well as a broader public relations campaign.

Workshop Series to Educate and Inform Indigenous Communities

Fundación Pachamama is putting together a series of workshops and meetings to educate and inform all of the indigenous nationalities of Ecuador’s south-central Amazon region about the government’s announced plans for the 11th round of oil development.

The workshops and meetings will take place in the first quarter of 2012 and will tie in perfectly with the annual congresses and assemblies of the various indigenous governing federations.

In addition, Fundación Pachamama is planning to support a series of ceremonial meetings throughout the territory that will include shamans, women, and community elders – groups that don’t play a formal role in the governing federations – to develop a long-term vision and strategy for protecting their cultures and territories.

Raising Awareness About Alternatives to Oil

Also in development is a public awareness campaign in Ecuador to propose and advocate alternatives to the oil development planned for the south-central Amazon region, one of Ecuador’s most biologically and culturally rich regions.

The Andean University in Quito is working with Fundación Pachamama to develop the economic and social science justifications for an alternative strategy.

Keep Spreading the Word

We’re in this campaign for the long haul, and we know you are, too. If you haven’t already, we invite you to subscribe to our email updates and join us on Facebook, where we’ll be keeping you informed of progress and developments.

As the campaign gains momentum, your contribution will continue to make a difference, waking up people around the world to what’s at stake in Ecuador.

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