#amazonian basin

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In the giant Amazonian basin, where deforestation only opened new environments for the insect, A. darlingi cast a long shadow over human health.

"Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History" - Kyle Harper

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Indigenous Amazonian communities bear the burden of Ecuador’s balsa boom

This story is a reporting partnership between Mongabay Latam and La Barra Espaciadora. Balsa wood is a hot commodity in Ecuador, with the co

Balsa wood is a hot commodity in Ecuador, with the country exporting $402 million worth of the timber in 2020 alone, according to data from the central bank. But the lucrative trade has reportedly come at a cost to communities living in the country’s Amazon region, who allege they have suffered from the impacts the industry is having on the land where balsa trees are harvested.

Wood from the balsa tree (Ochroma pyramidale) is soft and lightweight, and is used to make goods like rafts, surfboards and musical instruments, as well as packing materials.

Ecuador established itself as the top balsa exporter in 2015. By 2017, the country had doubled the value of its annual exports to $150 million. China is the biggest market for Amazonian balsa, accounting for 85% of the 77,140 tons Ecuador exported in 2020. In the first quarter of 2021, Ecuador exported $28.7 million worth of balsa, $18.4 million of which went to China.

The Pastaza River Basin is one of the areas most affected by the balsa industry. There, the Pastaza, Bobonaza, Curaray, Villano, Copataza and other rivers are used as logging access routes, with satellite imagery showing their banks increasingly pockmarked by deforestation. Sources tell Mongabay Latam that the logging has been so intense that balsa has been completely removed from some areas.

[...] Belén Páez, the director of Fundación Pachamama, which advocates for Indigenous and environmental rights, is working with other researchers on a balsa management plan to address the impacts the trade is having on the Ecuadoran Amazon. She said loggers are starting to harvest other timber species in areas that have been denuded of balsa.

“The same loggers and traders that one year ago arrived from [the cities of] Quevedo, Esmeraldas or Guayaquil are now arriving to look at what else is there,” Páez said.

“There is an ongoing process of deforestation of valuable tree species in Indigenous territories” with no monitoring by the authorities, she added.

[...] Mashienta expressed concern that the balsa industry may be leading to increased drug use in Indigenous communities. She alleged that after logging commercially valuable tree species, the loggers plant illegal crops like coca and marijuana.

Allegations have also surfaced connecting the industry to human trafficking. On May 4 this year, a 6-year-old girl, Rubí Pujupat Achampash, disappeared from her community in the Wampis Indigenous Territory in neighboring Peru. The Wampis Nation’s communication team wrote in a report that “the only option is that it was balsa loggers because it happened at a time when balsa loggers invaded from Ecuador.” As of the time this story was published, the child was still missing.

On June 5, a group of Wampis people traveled to Tiwintza, just across the border in Ecuador, to meet with local authorities. Josefina Tunki, the president of the Shuar Arutam community, announced a joint communal effort to oversee the legal process and search for Rubí.

Atilio Noningo, technical undersecretary with the Wampis Nation’s government, reported that Ecuadorans had entered their territory illegally, and demanded the government of Ecuador take responsibility for Rubí’s search.

“There is no territorial control by [our] Ecuadoran neighbors, there are many intrusions to extract the natural resources that are in the Wampis Nation territories,” Noningo said. He added that binational “articulated work” is needed to stop the illegal extraction of resources.

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The Amazonian Basin, Peru

October, 2014