There is a region in the southwest of the country known as El Oro, or "Gold" in English. Gold was first discovered in the 1500’s and continues to be extracted and mined today. Oil is an extremely vital natural resource as it is needed for almost all machinery and most modes of transportation around the world. Although the world is trying to move towards more clean energy and renewable energy sources, oil is still needed and used frequently. Oil in Ecuador is found mostly beneath the Amazon rainforest. Extracting the oil is complicated and extremely controversial because the Amazon rainforest is one of the most biodiverse places in the world. Removing the oil can be destructive to the rainforest and all the life that calls it home. Many indigenous tribes who live in the Amazon have fought against large oil corporations to stop drilling in the rainforest because it threatens their home and pollutes the environment. Oil is a natural resource that is still necessary, but at what cost?
Indigenous tribes in Ecuador, who mainly live in the Amazon region, have a special name for the Earth, Pachamama. This name means "Mother Earth", and without her we would have no natural resources. Natural resources come from nature, and without it and what it produces, human beings would not survive. Most of our food and the products we use to build our homes and cities, our clothes and almost everything we need to live comes from nature in some capacity. Many Ecuadorians, especially Indigenous tribal members, are fighting to protect those natural resources from exploitation or detrimental extraction processes that can harm the environment.
Arable land, gold and oil are just a few of the natural resources Ecuador has at its disposal.
