Ecuador

Trust our Expertise or Face Catastrophe, Amazon Peoples Warn on Environment
By: Patrick Greenfield
Jan. 28, 2020
The Guardian
Keywords: Shuar People, Ecuador, Amazon rainforest, deforestation, indigenous peoples, climate change, environment
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/28/trust-our-expertise-or-face-catastrophe-amazon-peoples-warn-on-environment-aoe
Tuntiak Katan, the first indigenous representative at a UN climate action summit, warns that ecosystems will continue to collapse around the globe unless humanity begins to listen to indigenous communities on how to live with nature. According to the World Bank, “Indigenous communities support around 80% of the planet’s biodiversity despite accounting for less than one twentieth of the human population.” Areas of the Amazon rainforest inhabited by indigenous communities sequester carbon better than other areas, leading to less degradation and deforestation.

Traditional ecological knowledge and medicinal plant diversity in Ecuadorian Amazon home gardens
By: Veronica Caballero-Serrano, Brian McLaren, Juan Carlos Carrasco, Josu G. Alday, Luis Fiallos, Javier Amigo, Miren Onaindia
Global Ecology and Conservation, v17
January 2019
Keywords: Ecosystem services, biodiversity, human well-being, traditional ecological knowledge, ethnobotany
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2351989418303524
This article focuses on medicinal plants and associated knowledge. Knowledge of medicinal use of plants varies with age, gender, ethnicity. The study found that while men cultivate more diverse gardens, women serve as the main transmission source for knowledge about medicinal plants. This study also highlights the importance of recognizing social aspects like culture and gender, when formulating land use policies for agroecosystems.