THE Waorani nation has won a historic legal battle preventing the Ecuadorian government from opening up half a million acres of their rainforest home to fossil-fuel extraction companies.

A provincial court in Pastaza province ruled on Friday that the government’s 2012 consultations with the Amerindian tribe over the selling of its land were inadequate and so violated its right to self-determination.

Both national and international law state that governments must first seek the free and informed consent of any community that could be affected by extraction projects before they begin.