A/HRC/4/32/Add.2 page 13 C. Uncontacted peoples and threats to their existence 37. Since the 1960s, the Huaorani (or Huao Tiriro), living in the north-east of the Ecuadorian Amazon, have been subject to growing pressure from oil and logging companies on the one hand and, on the other, the Summer Institute of Linguistics (SIL), an evangelical organization from the United States of America. In its work SIL promoted the development of economic activities which took advantage of the region’s natural resources. Over this period, the State has also encouraged colonization of the area by introducing oil activities and extending the agricultural border. These activities led to an increase in the non-indigenous population, which reached 80 per cent of the area’s population at the end of the twentieth century. The swift transformation of this area took place against a backdrop of violent clashes with the native peoples of Amazonia, which steadily weakened the Huaorani family groups and led to the extermination of the Tetetes in the Aguarico-Napoas region. 38. In a few decades, these processes aggressively transformed the living conditions and culture of the Huaorani, who have only managed to rally in defence of their collective, territorial and economic rights in recent years. As a consequence of this pressure, some clans separated from the central Huaorani group and retreated deeper into the jungle, rejecting all contact with the outside world. Despite this, as a result of oil incursions in recent decades, some violent encounters have taken place, leading to deaths on both sides, but mainly among the Huaorani. In addition to oil incursions, the illegal felling of timber species of high commercial value has put further pressure on the territories of these peoples living in voluntary isolation, in addition to increasing inter-ethnic tension. 39. In the 1990s, the State recognized 700,000 hectares of Huaorani land. This was smaller than their traditional territory and included areas taken from the Yasuní National Park. The land allocated to the Huaorani also includes the Tagaeri-Taromenani people, who are uncontacted, semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, today also known as peoples in voluntary isolation. In 1999, the Tagaeri-Taromenani area was decreed “untouchable land”, a conservation area where all types of extractive activity are prohibited in perpetuity. The exact limits of this vast jungle region are yet to be determined and it is not clear how many people make up the indigenous population that this action aims to protect. 40. In this area, the State does not have a sufficient presence or a carefully designed management plan to be able to prevent the progressive incursion of Ecuadorian and Colombian settlers and illegal loggers, or resist the growth of what is termed international “eco-tourism”. In recent decades, this situation has led to a series of violent clashes between the invaders (the majority of whom are also of Huaorani lineage) and the isolated groups. In 2003, a massacre left at least 20 dead and in April 2006, during the Special Rapporteur’s visit, another violent encounter was reported, although the truth and scale of this has yet to be confirmed. The land allocated to the Tagaeri-Taromenani borders similar land in neighbouring Colombia and Peru. Only concerted international action in the long term will be able to save these peoples from extinction. At the time of finalizing this report, it has not been possible to obtain information to corroborate joint regional action in this field.