Indigenous people play a major role in protecting the Amazon, which contains over half the world’s rain forests, and the threats that they face. Kichwa people are organizing to prevent further development concessions in their ancestral lands. They say the big companies don’t respect the forests and that development projects such as cattle ranching and palm oil plantations are responsible for deforestation and devastation. A study by the Institute for the Common Good shows how indigenous people act as protectors of the rain forest, benefitting the entire planet. Nonetheless, their territories are threatened. Rael Mora reports from Lima for teleSUR
