Nemonte Nenquimo
Waorani Leader and Activist
Nemonte Nenquimo is an Indigenous Waorani leader committed to defending her ancestral territory and her people’s survival in the Amazon rainforest. Raised in the traditional community of Nemonpare in the Pastaza region of the Ecuadorian Amazon, Nenquimo co-founded the Indigenous-led nonprofit organization Ceibo Alliance in 2014 to protect Indigenous lands and livelihoods from resource extraction, along with its sister organization Amazon Frontlines. In 2018, she was elected the first female president of the Organización Waorani de Pastaza (OWAP). Nenquimo led her people to a historic legal victory against the Ecuadorian government, which protected a half million acres of primary rainforest in the Amazon from oil drilling and set a precedent for Indigenous rights across the region. Today, she is fighting to ensure the safety of her people amid the dual threats of Covid-19 and the ongoing ecological crisis in the Amazon. In 2020, Nenquimo won the Goldman Environmental Prize for South and Central America, and was honored as one of the United Nations’ Champions of the Earth. She was also included in the BBC’s 100 Women of 2020 and the Time 100 list of the one hundred most influential people in the world.