"Spotlight on indigenous rights at COP22 climate," 17 Nov 2016

“When I was seven years old, an oil company came to my village,” says Nina Gualinga, 23, recalling how her indigenous Kichwa community was offered $10,000 to allow oil operations in the…rainforest…For the people of Sarayaku, protecting their forests is about keeping oil in the ground and preventing deforestation in order to defend their lands and way of life. Without receiving the community's permission, the oil companies arrived…When the Kichwa people resisted, State military forces arrived to beat the men, bury dynamite under indigenous land and cut down the forest. The Kichwa took their case to the Inter-American Court on Human Rights…where…the court ruled that the government must consult indigenous communities before licensing oil companies to do business on indigenous territory…At the COP22 climate talks in Marrakech…Gualinga is urging governments to prioritize climate justice for indigenous communities in climate actions aimed at reducing carbon emissions…She noted that floods that used to come every 15 to 20 years, now occur two or three times in a single year…