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Cartography of Sumak Kawsay among the Ancestral Kichwa Peoples of Pastaza

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BY PAUL ANDRÉS SABANDO MOSQUERA FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

In the Ecuadorian Amazon, sumak kawsay embodies the Kichwa peoples’ vision of life, which guides the management of their territories. When incorporated into modern cartography, this knowledge enriches their interpretation of their territory, facilitates community-based monitoring, and provides a foundation for Indigenous self-government. Kichwa cartography responds to the need for communities to express their own logic of territorial occupation and management, grounded in their worldview.

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Mapping living geographies and hope in Wallmapu

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BY SARAH KELLY AND MONÉ VÁSQUEZ FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

Participatory mapping of local realities, which differs from official state maps, constitutes a method and a tool for collective resistance on Indigenous lands. These maps were made with Mapuche-Williche communities who exercised decisions about what data to include and how to communicate it. Maps were not the end product but a longer process of mapping territories. Mapuche communities collaborated with us to interpret these methods from within their forms of resistance, which involve legal, administrative, and territorial defense.

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Cartographies of Disaster and Memory: The Pilagá and Colonial Violence

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BY CARLOS SALAMANCA VILLAMIZAR FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

In 1947, the National Gendarmerie entered the traditional territory of the Pilagá people and killed dozens of Indigenous men, women, and children. The event became known as the “Pilagá Massacre” or the “Rincón Bomba Massacre”. It was only in 2019 that the Argentine judiciary recognised the responsibility of the National State and underscored the collective nature of the harm inflicted. Mapping initiatives have since made it possible to reconstruct the violent acts that foreshadowed the massacre, as well as the Gendarmerie’s assaults on Pilagá people who attempted to escape. Eight decades on, the restitution of territories violently seized from Indigenous communities remains unfulfilled.

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Cartography as a Tool for Indigenous Governance in the Multiethnic Indigenous Territory

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CATALINA RIVADENEIRA AND LEONARDO TAMBURINI FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

For Indigenous Peoples, territory is not merely a physical space; it is a fundamental element that shapes their culture. To enhance territorial management, the Legal and Social Support Organisation (ORE) collaborates with TIM authorities, providing georeferenced information on their shared natural resources, forest conservation, and monitoring and control systems. These maps combine ancestral knowledge with modern technology, creating a dynamic representation that honours traditions while responding to contemporary needs.

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Mapping to Protect Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation: Lessons from Geographical Disputes in Yasuní

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BY MANUEL BAYÓN JIMÉNEZ AND AMANDA YÉPEZ SALAZAR FOR INDIGENOUS DEBATES

In 2008, the government introduced the Yasuní-ITT Initiative, which proposed leaving the oil reserves of Block 43 underground in exchange for international financial contributions that would acknowledge the ecological debt of the Global North. However, the initiative was not successful and, in 2013, the government wrote off the proposal and authorised oil exploitation. Society quickly organised: it denounced such destruction and demonstrated, through maps, the extent of encroachment onto the territory and lives of the Indigenous Peoples living in isolation. Finally, with the geographical evidence gathered, a favourable ruling was obtained from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in defence of Yasuní.

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About IWGIA

IWGIA - International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs - is a global human rights organisation dedicated to promoting and defending Indigenous Peoples’ rights. Read more.

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Indigenous World

IWGIA's global report, the Indigenous World, provides an update of the current situation for Indigenous Peoples worldwide. Read The Indigenous World.

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