Tribes in the Amazon forest of Ecuador are asking the government to stop the steady intrusion of oil pipelines through their traditional territory.

The Waorani, Taromenane and other tribes live on a government-protected reserve. Their lands are already subject to intense drilling but they face more development under President Rafael Correa, who plans to open the Yasuni National Park to energy companies.

“There won’t be any animals. The rivers will die,” Tepa Quimontari, a Waorani woman who tried to meet with Correa last year to speak about development, told The Washington Post. “More diseases will come.”

Government officials say they can develop Yasuni without destroying the landscape.

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In Ecuador, oil boom creates tension (The Washington Post 2/17)