The lower Apaporis River, an area of pristine tropical forest in the eastern Colombian Amazon, is home to some of Colombia's most traditional indigenous groups, the Makuna, Tanimuca, Barasana, Yujup and Puinave, among others. Since 2007, the floodgates have opened for mining concessions even within legally recognised indigenous territory and including an area that is especially sacred, known as Yuisi (or La Libertad rapids).

In response, the indigenous people sought to establish a national park - under a special agreement respecting their autonomy and traditional practices for safeguarding the forest - and in 2010, Yaigojé Apaporis became Colombia's 55th national protected area. A special report by Gaia Amazonas details the efforts by local indigenous people to protect Yuisi, the forest and their very existence.

Yaigojé Apaporis, an indigenous resguardo (legally-recognised, collectively-owned territory), is the only Colombian territory that has been declared a National Natural Park at the express request of the indigenous communities living there. It was officially declared Colombia's 55th, and the third largest, national protected area, in October 2009.

"This area has a rich cultural tradition that includes a number of shamanistic practices and rituals that provide the humans with the knowledge necessary for living in and protecting this world," commented Environment Minister Carlos Costa at a public event to announce the park, which covers over a million hectares. The indigenous territory and national park, a vast swathe of tropical forest that straddles the banks of the Caquetá River and the Apaporis River, are rich in tropical forest biodiversity including endangered mammals such as the giant ant-eater, squirrel monkey, jaguar, manatee, and the pink dolphin.

The idea to create a national park came from the traditional indigenous authorities themselves and their organisation ACIYA (Asocación de Capitanes Indígenas del Yaigojé Apaporis), to conserve their territory along with its tangible and intangible cultural values. Their efforts to protect their territory date from much further back. With support from Gaia Amazonas Foundation, in 1988 the local indigenous communities managed to establish the Yaigojé Apaporis resguardo over their traditional territory. However, this status under Colombian legislation does not provide the indigenous communities with rights to the sub-soil; nor did it provide them with legal recourse when Cosigo Resources, a Canadian gold-mining company, began prospecting in the area.

"The soil is the resguardo, collective property, but the sub-soil is owned by the State," explains Gerardo Macuna, representative of ACIYA indigenous organisation. "The best way to shield the territory was to call upon the State. In other words: Western disease is cured by Western medicine. If all mining licenses are given by the State, it is necessary to call on the State to defend the territory."

Cosigo Resources was granted a mining title just two days after the official creation of the National Park - a matter that is now in the hands of the Attorney General's Office - and it appears that the company is behind 23 other applications for mining exploration around Yaigojé Apaporis. Cosigo is also attempting to revoke the National Park status. The case is in the hands of the Constitutional Court and could set an alarming precedent - the dissolution of a National Park, orchestrated by a mining company. It threatens a bleak future for the indigenous communities and their rich shamanistic traditions, and would be a fatal blow to the principles and achievements in Colombia over the last 20 years, and to the Amazon forest.

Julia Miranda Londoño, Director of National Parks of Colombia, is firm that "the national park should take priority over the private interest of an international mining company that has used indigenous people." Nevertheless, some indigenous communities in the department of Vaupés have shown dissatisfaction with the decision and have endeavoured to reverse it, claiming that mining will guarantee progress for their people. While the Constitutional Court reviews the situation, Cosigo and other mining companies accelerate their efforts in obtaining mining rights and permits.

Read the full story in this Special Report by Gaia Amazonas.