This Is What A Self-Determined Indigenous Government Looks Like

Self-governance is one of the most significant claims made by indigenous peoples in Latin America. The Wampis nation in Peru made it real for 20,000 people living in the Amazonian forest. But what do indigenous governments have to do with the environment? Clear cut connections are visualised by talented photographer Jacob Balzani Lööv in this photo essay.

If you are wondering what self-determined government means for indigenous peoples, their answer is clear: control on how to administer the future of their ways of life within the territory they inhabit. In Peru, Wampis peoples did not wait for the state to proclaim their autonomy, they exercised their right to create one.

The Wampis nation was constituted in 2015 and now its government covers 1.3 million hectares of Wampis territory in the Amazon rain forest. According to the Wampis nation’s leader Wrays Pérez the priorities are clear: “Autonomy is not sustainable if we have no control over the natural resources within our ancestral land”.

The Guardian paints a picture of this in your head:

“Wampis like to say that the forest is their supermarket. The rivers are key to daily life as a source of clean water and fish and there are no problems with food security in the region. Amazonian forests are nicknamed “the lungs of the planet” for their capacity for turning carbon dioxide into oxygen, mitigating climate change.”

Jump into a journey guided by indigenous peoples making real their rights on the ground.