By Gabriel García September 9, 2024
Ancestral medicine teachers from the Shipibo nation of Peru recently gathered for an urgent meeting to address the effects of spiritual tourism and corporate exploitation, issues that put their sacred medicine and territory at risk.
An Urgent Meeting to Protect Ayahuasca
In July 2024, more than one hundred Onanyabo, or Shipibo-Conibo ancestral medicine healers from the Ucayali region of Peru, gathered at the Instituto Superior Pedagógico Bilingüe de Yarinacocha. The meeting aimed to discuss the future of spiritual tourism, the defence of traditional knowledge and the protection of the forest and indigenous territories, all under increasing threat.
One of the central issues was spiritual extraction, especially the overexploitation and trade of Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, the plants that make up the ayahuasca concoction and are the basis of spiritual tourism.
Impact of Tourism and Corporate Exploitation
Walter Ramiro Lopez, an Onanya and president of the Association of Ancestral Medical Onanyabo (ASOMASHK), the organisation that coordinated the meeting, highlighted the environmental impacts caused by the over-exploitation of medicinal plants. ‘As European and Western countries increase demand for our sacred plants (Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis), which are still considered illegal in many places because they contain DMT, this demand is depleting our ayahuasca and chacruna,’ explained López.
The problem is compounded by the intervention of pharmaceutical companies seeking to turn ayahuasca into medicine. In 2022, Canadian company Filament Health announced the production of ayahuasca extract capsules for clinical trials. These efforts to pharmacologise ayahuasca, along with spiritual tourism and growing global demand, are putting significant pressure on the Amazonian flora.
Exploitation and Lack of Compensation
Lopez noted that despite the extraction of biological resources by corporations, indigenous communities have not received any significant contribution in return. Exploitation also extends to traditional healers, who are often underpaid and lack employment benefits in foreign-run healing centres.
The meeting discussed the need to establish a fair wage for the Onanyabo in recognition of their work and the ancestral medicine they practice. An internal regulation for the use of Shipibo-Konibo ancestral medicine was unanimously approved, with the aim of achieving labour justice for these healers.
Additional Threats and Indigenous Response
In addition to economic exploitation, other problems such as deforestation, crime and clashes with Protestant Mennonite settlers also threaten the future of ayahuasca. Between 2022 and 2023, Mennonite colonies in Ucayali cut down more than 2,400 hectares of rainforest. Palm oil extraction, mining and oil companies are also encroaching on indigenous lands and causing extensive deforestation.
Faced with the inaction of the Peruvian government, which does not recognise the work of the Onanyabo and favours large corporations, the Shipibo people have taken the protection of their lands into their own hands. They have created an indigenous guard to protect their resources and territories, with the aim of establishing patrols in the 175 indigenous communities covering more than 8 million hectares.
Preserving Ayahuasca and Cultural Heritage
Concern among indigenous communities in the Peruvian Amazon over the future of ayahuasca is alarming. As they face increasing threats to their lands and traditions, the preservation of ayahuasca, the rainforest and the cultural heritage of these communities is increasingly crucial.
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