Nemonte Nenquimo is an Indigenous activist and member of the Waorani Nation from the Amazonian Region of Ecuador. She is the first female president of the Waorani of Pastaza (CONCONAWEP) and co-founder of the Indigenous-led nonprofit organization Ceibo Alliance. In 2020, she was named in the Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world, the only Indigenous woman on the list and the second Ecuadorian to ever be named in its history. In recognition of her work, in 2020 the United Nations Environment Programme gave her the "Champions of the Earth" award in the category Inspiration and Action.[1]
Nenquimo was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government, which culminated in a 2019 ruling that protects half a million acres of Waorani ancestral land in the Amazon rainforest from oil drilling.
Early life and career edit
Nenquimo was born in the community of Nemompare in 1985 in the Pastaza region of the Ecuadorian Amazon.[2][3] She is a member of the Waorani Nation of hunter-harvesters.[4]
In 2014, Nenquimo co-founded Ceibo Alliance, an Indigenous-led nonprofit to protect Indigenous lands from resource extraction. She was elected the first female president of the Waorani organization of Pastaza province (CONCONAWEP) in 2018.[3][5][6][7]
Activism edit
Nenquimo has expressed a love for her land going back generations. Her community, the Waorani Nation, were first colonized in 1958 by Christian missionaries.[8] Soon after in the 1960s, the Ecuadorian government, driven by oil, began building roads and destroying their forest.[8] The government has also divided Waorani land to be auctioned for oil extraction.[8] Most of the Ecuadorian Amazon has been affected by this, with six of the blocks auctioned to oil companies belonging to the Waorani.[8] One of these blocks is Nemompare, Nenquimo’s birthplace.[8] As a result, the Waorani people have been forced to moved further into the forest in a fight to remain independent from the outside world.[8][9]
Nemonte Nenquimo says that her people have felt the effects of climate change long before it became a mainstream conversation.[8] She has also stated that abuelas (elderly Waorani women) have provided her with the knowledge and passion to fight for change.[8][10][9]
2019 court ruling edit
The Ecuadorian Amazon Rainforest is home to many indigenous people.[11] Many often claim that their rights, access to their land, and ability to make decisions has been ignored by the government.[11] As a result, as part of CONCONAWEP (Coordinating Council of the Waorani Nationality of Ecuador-Pastaza), Nenquimo co-filed a lawsuit with Ecuador’s human rights ombudsmen against the Ecuadorian government.[4][12] Nenquimo was the plaintiff in the lawsuit, whose 2019 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Pastaza Provincial Court protects half a million acres of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador from oil drilling.[5][4][3] The verdict that the Ecuadorian government must engage in the free, prior and informed consent process according to the standards of international law and the Constitutional Court of Ecuador before auctioning land provides a legal precedent for other Indigenous nations to counteract resource extraction within Indigenous territory.[3][12]
A parade of hundreds of Waorani people celebrated the ruling in April 2019 in Puyo, the regional capital of the eastern province of Pastaza. Many traveled great distances to attend.[12]
Current work edit
Nemonte Nenquimo, along with her husband Mitch Anderson (founder of Amazon Frontlines) is set to publish a book We Will Not Be Saved in June 2024.[13][14] In this memoir, she confronts the racist perceptions of Indigenous people with a dive into oral history to demonstrate not only her life story but also that of the Amazon.[14]
Awards edit
In 2020, she was featured on the Time 100 list, the only Indigenous woman that year and among the first Amazonians ever to be named.[3] She was also on the list of the BBC's 100 Women announced on 23 November 2020.[15] In 2020, Nenquimo was one of six environmental leaders to be awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize.[16][17][18][19]
References edit
- ^ Environment, U. N. (9 December 2020). "Nemonte Nenquimo". Champions of the Earth. Retrieved 24 December 2020.
- ^ Zúñiga, Cecilia (24 September 2020). "Ya basta de encender fuegos en la selva amazónica, dice la líder waorani Nemonte Nenquimo, una de las 100 personas más influyentes del mundo para la revista Time". El Universo.
- ^ a b c d e Pinchetti, Sophie (26 April 2019). "Waorani People Win Landmark Legal Victory Against Ecuadorian Government". Amazon Frontlines.
- ^ a b c Pinchetti, Sophie (23 September 2020). "Indigenous Amazonian Leader Nemonte Nenquimo Is Named TIME 100 Most Influential People In The World". Amazon Frontlines.
- ^ a b DiCaprio, Leonardo (22 September 2020). "The 100 Most Influential People of 2020: Nemonte Nenquimo". TIME.
- ^ Specter, Emma (14 October 2019). "These Indigenous Activists Are Fighting for the Future of a Ravaged Amazon". Vogue.
- ^ Nenquimo, Nemonte (20 October 2020). "This is my message to the western world – your civilisation is killing life on Earth". The Guardian.
- ^ a b c d e f g h León, Carolina Loza. "'We saw it coming': The Indigenous leader fighting climate change". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ a b @ecoosfera (19 October 2020). "Nemonte Nenquimo, la líder indígena ambiental, envía un mensaje a la civilización..." Ecoosfera (in Mexican Spanish). Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ Blasco, Lucia (1 December 2020). "Nemonte Nenquimo: "No esperen que sólo los pueblos indígenas defendamos la Amazonía, es una lucha de todos"".
- ^ a b Environment, U. N. (9 December 2020). "Nemonte Nenquimo". Champions of the Earth. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ a b c Riederer, Rachel (15 May 2019). "An Uncommon Victory for an Indigenous Tribe in the Amazon". The New Yorker.
- ^ Chandler, Mark (24 June 2021). "Wildfire signs rainforest campaigner Nenquimo's 'clarion call'". Retrieved 16 February 2022.
- ^ a b "We Will Not Be Saved by Nemonte Nenquimo | WHSmith". 'WHSmith. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ "BBC 100 Women 2020: Who is on the list this year?". BBC News. 23 November 2020. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
- ^ "Nemonte Nenquimo". www.rewild.org. Retrieved 17 February 2022.
- ^ "Nemonte Nenquimo". Goldman Environmental Prize. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ "The Goldman environmental prize winners 2020 – in pictures". The Guardian. 30 November 2020. Retrieved 6 December 2020.
- ^ Buschschlüter, Vanessa (30 November 2020). "Nemonte Nenquimo: The indigenous leader named 'environmental hero'". BBC News. Retrieved 6 December 2020.