"Indigenous groups criticize Ecuador’s $47 billion oil expansion plan in Amazon", 24 September 2025

...Seven Indigenous groups in Ecuador’s Amazon have denounced a government plan to offer dozens of blocks of land for oil exploration, saying it threatens their ancestral lands and violates constitutional protections.

The criticism targets a plan from the Ministry of Energy and Mines in August to auction the rights for 49 oil and gas projects worth more than $47 billion.

...Their plan includes contract renegotiations and new licensing rounds that the government says comply with existing legal frameworks.

Indigenous groups say 18 of the proposed oil blocks overlap their territories — an area roughly the size of Belgium.

Leaders from the Andwa, Shuar, Achuar, Kichwa, Sapara, Shiwiar and Waorani peoples say their communities were not consulted and accuse the government of ignoring court rulings that struck down earlier consultations as unconstitutional...

Noboa’s administration has moved to scrap Ecuador’s independent Environment Ministry. He also supported a law passed by the National Assembly that lets private and foreign entities co-manage conservation zones that critics say weakens protections and threatens Indigenous land rights.

...We are resisting, and we call on the international community to oppose this expansion and help protect the Amazon and our rights.”

Ecuador’s Ministry of Energy and Mines did not immediately respond to questions from The Associated Press...