As the Indigenous Peoples of the Amazon Basin with the diversity of our histories, cultures, philosophy, spirituality, territories, and economic organizations, we have existed since time immemorial.

We, the indigenous peoples of the Amazon have adopted distinct forms of organization and denomination in the frame work of the national states who established norms and laws in line with their interests disallowing the ancestral rights of the first inhabitants, the indigenous peoples.

The national states, “owners” and proprietors of the Amazon Basin subscribed to the treaty of Amazon Cooperation in 1978 in order to integrate it under
their dominion and to exploit the existing resources, without taking us into account. In the face of this menace, we initiated a process of meetings and exchange of information to unite and organize in the defense of our rights as peoples.

As a product of theses meetings the Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin – COICA was created at the First Congress realized in the city of Lima, Peru in March of 1984. At present, the coordination integrates nine organizations coming from the 9 countries that share the Amazon basin.