For the Kichwa People of Sarayaku, water is not just a resource: it is a living being, with spirit, memory and dignity. From the worldview of Kawsak Sacha (Living Forest), water sustains life and spirituality, connects communities with Pachamama, and represents a sacred link with the ancestral history of the territory. This is how it is expressed by Nelson Alex Dahua Machoa, indigenous leader and current representative of the Kichwa People of Sarayaku (Pastaza, Ecuador), who has dedicated his life to the defense of the territory and its vital assets.
“The defense of water is at the very heart of our identity,” Nelson notes. His career combines a solid technical background in natural resource conservation with a deep commitment to the self-determination of Indigenous peoples. From this holistic perspective, he understands water as a human right, a common and sacred good that must be protected against multiple threats: from extractivism to the effects of climate change.
Formation with roots and horizon
Nelson is currently participating in the International Postgraduate Diploma in Integrated Water Governance, Regulation and Management, within the framework of the International Water Programme (ACQUAS) of the Institute for Global Dialogue and the Culture of Encounter, with support from the Ecclesial Conference of the Amazon (CEAMA), where she hopes to integrate legal, technical, ecological, and spiritual tools. This training seeks to strengthen the capacities of community leaders in the defense of their territories, promoting processes that respect Indigenous worldviews and enhance pastoral and community action.
“I want to learn strategies that help monitor and restore bodies of water, but also to make our struggle visible and create our own regulations that reflect our way of seeing the world,” he explains. In Sarayaku, initiatives such as the Regional Law on Free, Prior and Informed Consent, presented at the Kawsari 2022 event, are concrete examples of how spirituality, law, and politics are interwoven into a proposal for a dignified and sustainable life.
From territory to global forums
The voice of Amazonian peoples, like that of the Sarayaku people, has enormous potential to impact water management at the local, national, and international levels. Thanks to organizing processes, strategic alliances, and landmark rulings—such as the 2012 Inter-American Court ruling—Sarayaku has become a global benchmark for peaceful struggle for land.
For Nelson, the challenge lies in keeping ancestral spirituality alive, training new generations committed to defending water, and building bridges with other movements and sectors. “We need to share our experience and inspire other water management models based on respect for life and nature,” he says.
Living water for a living jungle
CEAMA recognizes that defending water in the Amazon is not only an ecological necessity, but also a spiritual and pastoral call. Initiatives like those promoted by the Sarayaku People reveal that another way of inhabiting the world is possible, a form of resistance deeply rooted in the territory and open to dialogue with the universal Church.
In the words of Nelson Dahua:
“Water isn’t defended with laws alone; it’s defended with the soul, with words, with the community, with the forest. Because where there’s living water, there’s living rainforest. And where there’s living rainforest, there’s hope.”
