Opening up the BCC shop is always an exciting time for us, and this year’s new gear makes that even more the case. As we anticipate a year of great success and meaningful change for the Seikopai, we also look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing photos of our new gear out amongst the trees.

In 2021, Big Canopy Campout raised funds for the Sëra Foundation, an indigenous grassroots organisation founded by a group of young Amazon defenders of Siekopai nationality who are working to protect their territory and ancestral culture.

Their focus is to create an education system that combines their ancestral wisdom with aspects of modern knowledge, and to develop sustainable sources of income for their community.

Funds raised through the sale of custom made products provided the opportunity for the Sëra Foundation to leave their community on a trip to visit inspiring people and projects to guide the steps in their journey. Beth Pitts activist, author and friend of the Siekopai documents the story below.

The Native People of Sarayaku are best known for their historic 2012 victory against the Ecuadorian state at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which found that the government had violated their rights by allowing an oil company to enter their territory without consulting them.

That same year, the Sarayaku created the Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest) Declaration asserting that, as a living entity, their territory is subject to legal rights and demanding that these rights be upheld according to existing national and international law.