Indigenous Siekopai returns home after 80 years as Ecuador grants rights

After an 80-year struggle to regain control of their ancestral lands in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest, the Indigenous Siekopai people are set to return after a historic court ruling ordered the government to grant the community property titles.

Under the November ruling, Ecuador's Environment Ministry is expected to issue a land title to the Siekopai by April for more than 420 square kilometres of land, along with a public apology for violating their rights.

"We've been demanding that the government complies with the constitution that recognises ancestral lands are the property of Indigenous communities," said Justino Piaguaje, a leader of the Siekopai people whose flooded forests — largely lagoons and swamps — are on the border between Ecuador and Peru.

"The ruling is recognition of a historic fight that goes back to our grandparents," he said.

However, implementing the court ruling could be hampered by the violence convulsing the country that led to President Daniel Noboa last week declaring a war on drug gangs and a state of emergency.

Once the court ruling is carried out, it would be the first time in Ecuador that an Indigenous community, whose ancestral territory overlaps state-protected land, has been given title deeds.

Other groups could also benefit from the ruling. More than 12,140 square kilometres of Indigenous territory are part of Ecuador's national parks or protected areas and do not have land titles, according to campaign group Amazon Frontlines.

"This is a precedent that opens the door for the defence of all Indigenous territories across the Amazon," said Jorge Acero, a lawyer for the Siekopai who is part of the Amazon Frontlines legal team.

Ancestral lands

The Siekopai were forced to flee their ancestral lands during the 1941 Peru-Ecuador war, and later prevented from returning when the Ecuadorian government made the land part of a wildlife reserve in 1979, without the group's consent.

During hearings at a provincial court, the Siekopai provided evidence of the boundaries of their remote and largely pristine homeland they call Pe'keya in their Paicoca language.

Using cameras, GPS receivers, satellite imagery and aerial drones, the community geo-referenced and documented the extent of their territory and identified sacred sites.

The Siekopai are one of 14 recognised Indigenous groups in Ecuador, with a small population of 800 hunter-gatherers inside the country and 1,200 more in Peru.

Siekopai land is a biodiverse "oasis" home to Amazon river dolphins, giant otters and manatees, surrounded by oil drilling and oil palm plantations, said Piaguaje.

Giving land titles to Indigenous groups and bolstering their rights also means it is far more likely oil deposits scattered across Ecuador's Amazon rainforest will stay in the ground — a key to meeting goals to tackle the climate crisis.