Tuntiak Katan Jua
Board Member
Indigenous Representative
Tuntiak is an indigenous leader of the Shuar Nation of Ecuador and as of 2018 Vice Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA). He began his work in the Tuutinentsa community where he became involved in supporting his organization the “Inter-Provincial Federation of Shuar Centers”. Later on, Tuntiak assumed leadership of the “Territories and Natural Resources” within the “Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon” (CONFENIAE), through which he worked with all the nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon.
Tuntiak is an environmentalist with expertise in applied ecology, environmental administration, biology of conservation, and natural resource management. He studied Applied Ecology and Environmental Administration at the San Francisco University of Quito (USFQ). In addition, he has conducted extensive research over the past 18 years on the Shuar culture and language, and managed environmental, social and linguistic projects involving the 11 cultures of the Amazonian region of Ecuador as well as the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, and Colombia. Tuntiak has been a spokesperson for indigenous peoples by participating in a variety of summits, conferences and forums on Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, Territorial Rights and Environmental Sustainability.
Since 2019, he assumed the position of General Coordinator of the “Global Alliance of Territorial Communities” made up of 4 international indigenous organizations that cover more than 600 million hectares of tropical forests. Using his expertise in linguistic, anthropological, and environmental sciences, Tuntiak is dedicated to investigating, documenting, and advocating for Amazonian languages and cultures, while implementing development strategies congruent with the vision of Indigenous Peoples and rooted in their cultural and environmental rights.