Achuar People - Non-Indigenous Influence On Achuar People

Non-Indigenous Influence On Achuar People

Due to the development of the Amazon Rainforest the Achuar people’s numbers and livelihood has been declining. When oil was discovered in the Amazon in 1964 oil companies began to make claims on land for development and profit. Such claims, their development, and a history of violent attacks on oil investment instalations throughout the Amazon have resulted in the Achuar being excluded from a portion of operational & drilling areas in the territory traditionally claimed by the Achuar. Non-Indigenous contact has also seen introduction of new diseases (including new STDs) and conflict related to pollution from oil spills, improper business practices, and violent interactions.

In multiple but not all cases, oil spills of various degrees have been inadequately remidiated by simple burial. Major oil pipelines run above rivers that the Achuar depend on for bathing and drinking. When these oil pipelines break, pollution can and has occurred, thereby degrading the resource and limiting Achuar access to their historic fresh (but untreated) water sources. Violent conflicts with Non-Indigenous people have arisen between oil company employees and the native Achuar. Like in much of the Amazon Basin, indigenous sexual practices differ from those in Non-Indigenous populations, and modern "safe sex" practices are very poorly dissiminated thereby putting at risk their population and culture. As a consequence, some advocates claim that Non-Indigenous contact contributes to a majority of indigenous deaths.