"When you return to your country, tell our sisters that the Achuar women are fighting for our territory! Pass this message to the women there, so they will also help us."
– Wasan Chumap Washikiat

Across the Amazon, indigenous peoples are waging high-profile campaigns to protect the "lungs of the planet." Brazil's Munduruku people are fighting against the construction of mega-dams along the Tapajós River. Ecuador's Kichwa people of Sarayaku are promoting their Living Forest concept before climate bodies. And the Achuar people have successfully evicted a steady parade of international oil companies from their vast territory along the Pastaza River in Peru.

The Achuar have a concrete plan for defending their ancestral homeland: they're demanding that the Peruvian government provide legal recognition of their collective territory and they're actively campaigning to keep out extractive industries, including oil, mining, and logging. In the past, they sent ARCO, Occidental Petroleum, and Canada-based Talisman Energy packing. Now the Achuar face a new threat: Chile-based oil company GeoPark, which hopes to pick up where Talisman left off.

In October, Amazon Watch traveled deep into Achuar territory to renew our mandate to support the Achuar and make plans for a new campaign. Here's what we learned.