Deep in the Amazon rainforest of the Pastaza province in Ecuador and distributed along a section of the banks of the Bobonaza River, live the Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku.
To access their territory, and as there are no roads, the only options are to do so by air or river. Most of the forest surrounding their communities is primary forest and their inhabitants have a clear determination to take care of their territory. One of the concrete actions to achieve this objective is Aero Sarayaku, the first airline in the world managed by an indigenous people and whose main purpose is to keep the Kawsa Sacha (Living Forest) alive.
In 2012, the Kichwa Indigenous People of Sarayaku won a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian state before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica for having granted (without prior consultation or consent) to the Argentine oil company CGC a license to extract crude oil in Sarayaku territory; Sarayaku then received compensation of 1.3 million dollars, of which just over 600 thousand dollars were allocated to the creation of the airline.
And it was in November 2015 that Aero Sarayaku began to operate its air taxi services and charter flights for cargo and passenger transportation, after obtaining the respective license from the General Directorate of Civil Aviation of Ecuador.
SOCIAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL VISION OF AERO SARAYAKU
Aero Sarayaku has two Cessna planes, the 182 P for three passengers and the Cessna T206H, with which, in addition to providing air taxi service, it serves the different communities of the Ecuadorian Amazon with emergency transportation services and solidarity flights through the provision of Air Transportation Service for medical emergencies and mobilization of basic health equipment (EBAS) in the Ecuadorian Amazon Region.
Likewise, and under the understanding of the Sarayaku People and their struggles for the defense of the territory and the rights of indigenous peoples, Aero Sarayaku It seeks to be a viable and real alternative to the advance of highways that represent a clear threat to the social and community fabric of the indigenous peoples of the 7 nationalities in the province of Pastaza.
The advance in road construction is a real threat that can significantly increase the levels of deforestation, expansion of agricultural frontiers, trafficking of species, as well as migration of communities, cultural impoverishment, loss of their food sovereignty systems, contamination of water sources, among others.
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