Nemonte Nenquimo

Nemonte Nenquimo, a Waorani leader, was born in Ecuador’s Amazon, one of the most bio-diverse and threatened rainforests on the planet. She is the co-founder of both the Indigenous- led nonprofit Ceibo Alliance and its partner organization, Amazon Frontlines. Nemonte led her people in an historic legal victory, protecting half a million acres of rainforest from oil and setting a precedent for Indigenous rights across the region. Her leadership has been widely recognized; in 2020, she won the Goldman Environmental Prize for Central and South America and the United Nations’ Champions of the Earth Award. Nemonte was also named in the BBC’s 100 Women list, the TIME list of the 100 Most Influential People in the World, the TIME 100 Climate list, and is an honoree of the 2024 TIME Earth Awards. She is the co-author of her acclaimed memoir We Will Not Be Saved (UK)/We Will Be Jaguars (US), written with her partner and Amazon Frontlines co-founder Mitch Anderson, and published by Wildfire in the UK and Abrams Books in the USA.