A Journey to the Heart of Ecuador’s Yasuni

Few places on earth harbor as much biodiversity as the Yasuni Biosphere Reserve, a 6,500-square-mile territory in eastern Ecuador where the Amazon basin ascends into the Andes Mountains. But Yasuni also sits atop vast reserves of oil, and this rainforest wilderness, home to the indigenous Waorani people, faces intense development pressure.

In this Yale Environment 360 video, filmmaker Ryan Killackey travels into the heart of Yasuni with seven scientists and chronicles their work as they inventory the reserve’s remarkable birds, fish, animals, and plants. Through their work, the researchers hope to bolster international initiatives to preserve a large swath of this threatened land.

ABOUT THE VIDEO
This Yale Environment 360 video was produced and directed by Ryan Killackey, a Washington, D.C.-based filmmaker. A graduate of the University of Montana’s Wildlife Biology program, he has worked on several film projects for PBS Nature, National Geographic, Passion Planet and Digital 3D. He has received four film awards from the International Wildlife Film Festival.

El video integral por Yale Environment 360

La historia de Omatoke, una mujer de origen Taromenane, asimilada a una familia waorani en su juventud. Su historia nos hace entender mejor, la dinámica de estos pueblos de la Nacionalidad Waorani y así respetar sus derechos.

In a new video ethnobotanist, Mark Plotkin, talks about recent—and historical—efforts to preserve the Amazon rainforest through map-making and technology. Today scientists like Plotkin are teaching indigenous people how to digitally map their territory to win land rights over the forest they’ve used for centuries.

Nearly 20 percent of the Amazon has been lost due to agriculture, cattle ranching, mining, roads, cities, and other impacts. Experts say one of the best ways to preserve the remaining forest is to grant rights to the indigenous peoples who live there.