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Comunidad Quinquen were one of the first Indigenous communities in Chile to claim sovereignty over their territory, a process that involved standing up to the Pinochet dictatorship. At the heart of the Pewenche struggle to fight for land and autonomy is the Melinir family, who stood up against timber corporations and military brutality to defend their sacred tree, the araucaria or pewen.

 

Comunidad Quinquen played a vital role in protecting the the monkey-puzzle or araucaria forests from commercial timber corporations, as they led the process for the  declaration, in Chilean law, of the araucaria as national monument. Sadly, they might not save these amazing prehistoric trees from dieback disease (recent studies show 90% of wild araucarias in Chile are infected).

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The cause of dieback is unknown, but it is thought to be climate change, and changing temperatures and rainfall conditions in the Southern Andes. The Pewen people speak of climate change as Quisukutran and Mapukutran, disease of the spirit and disease of the Earth, to be cured by a life in harmony with the forest. Hence the need for reofrestation as a healing practice. When land is healed, human soul is healed with it.

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