Indigenous Peoples' Climate Change Assessment
Fact Sheet Zapara-Waorani
Name of the Communities:
Zapara People of the Ecuadorian-Peruvian Amazon and Waorani
Organization:
Nacionalidad Zapara de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana and Nacionalidad Waorani del Ecuador (NAWE)
Geographical Location:
The Zapara People are located in the western Amazon near the Peru-Ecuador border. They live in small communities along the Conambo, Curare, Tigre, Vilano and Pindoyacu rivers. In Ecuador, they occupy about 54,000 hectares of land surrounded by Kichwa, Achuar, and Shuar communities in Central Pastaza province. In Peru, they live in the Tigre River Basin, in an area of 420,000 hectares. There is evidence that there are Zapara living in voluntary isolation along the Tigre river in Peru.
The Coordinates of Zapara Territory in Ecuador: 77.28° W, 1.58° S to 77.1° W, 1.64° S. To the south they reach the Jandiayacu River with the following coorddinates: 77.33° W, 1.65°S to 77.10° W, 1.83 S. In the east the boundary is a straight line from the Rio Pindoyacu up to the River Jandiayacu from 77.1 ° W, 1.64 ° S to the coordinates 77.10 ° W, 1.83 S. To the west, the vertices that can be taken into account to limit the territory are: 77.28 ° and 1.58 ° S, 77.26 ° and 1.56 ° S, 77.27 ° W and S 1.57, 1.58 and 77.29 ° W ° S, 77.31 ° O and 1.60 ° S, 77.32 ° and 1.62 ° S, 77.32 ° and 1.65 ° S, 77.33 ° and 1.65 ° S. There is a growing area of the territory located north of the area above which is shaped like a strip. It is bordered on the north by the river Namoyacu, from 77.26 ° and 1.58 ° S, up to 76.95 and 1.63 ° W ° S. To the south, Pindoyacu, is bounded by the coordinates 77.28 ° and 1.58 ° S, up to 76.95 and 1.63 ° W ° S. To the west, by 77.26 ° W and 1.57 ° S. It covers an area of 14,225 hectares.
The Waorani Territory (Yasuní National Park) is located at 0° 43' 11"S, 76° 2' 24"W, between Napo and Curaray rivers in Napo and Pastaza provinces, Amazonian Ecuador; and Southeast of town of Coca close to Nuevo Rocafuerte in Peru. It is at an elevation of 280 m.
Ecosystem/biome:
Tropical Rain Forest
Socioecological Data:
Today, it is estimated that there are between 400 – 600 Zapara. They live by hunting, fishing, gathering wild fruits and planting small gardens. Their homeland straddles both sides of the Peru – Ecuador border.
The traditional lands of the 2,500 Waorani lie in Ecuadorian Amazonia, where the foothills of the Andean Cordilleras flatten out to meet eight thousand square miles of tropical rain forest lying between the Napo and Curaray rivers. In the isolation of this remote territory, the Waorani have lived as semi-nomadic hunter gardeners for many centuries. But in the course of just one generation, their lives and their homeland have changed irrevocably.
Relevance for the assessment/livelihoods/food systems:
The western Amazon is the most biologically rich part of the Amazon basin and is home to a great diversity of indigenous ethnic groups, including some of the world’s last peoples living in voluntary isolation. It is still a largely intact ecosystem. The region maintains large tracts of intact tropical moist forest and has a high probability of stable climatic conditions in the face of global warming.
Current Climate Trends:
Weather stations some distance west and east of the territory suggest that the annual temperature averages 25°C (with extremes of 15° and 38°) and the annual rainfall is 2425-3145 mm, with a humidity of 88%. Although rarely rainless for more than 10 consecutive days, between August and February some months may be drier.
In recent years there have been on the ground reports of changes in the winds, decreased fish populations and sick game animals. Last year there was an unprecedented flood that came unexpectedly, completely destroyed large areas of rainforest and ruined houses and community gardens.
Oil and gas development in the western Amazon has already caused major environmental and social impacts.
Focus of Assessment:
With this assessment the Zapara and Waorani will:
- Analyze local knowledge on climate change taking place in their environment.
- Develop adaptation and mitigation plans in the face of climate change.
- Develop strategies or “Life Plans” for long-term survival as Zapara and Waorani in their own territory.
- Develop a territorial management strategy, based on traditional knowledge that allows the Zapara and Waorani to control their territories, resources and institutions for the benefit and welfare of their own communities and for the sustainable development of Zapara and Waorani territory.
- Initiate a strategy to collaborate with other indigenous peoples to engage strategically in regional and international policy debates on matters of climate change.
