Indigenous Women Lead the Charge as Guardians of the Amazon

On September 5, 2026, during the TEDxAmazonia event in Ecuador, thirteen Indigenous women from Amazonian tribes issued a powerful manifesto demanding recognition and protection as guardians of the Amazon. The event, the first TEDxAmazonia held outside Brazil, was a platform to highlight both their environmental advocacy and the risks Indigenous defenders face.

Catalina Chumpi, a Shuar elder, invoked the sacred waters to empower Indigenous women to defend their lands. This solemn gathering opened with a moment of silence for environmental defenders murdered in Latin America—the deadliest region for such activists according to Global Witness. The speakers stressed the vital role Indigenous peoples play in conserving the Amazon and the urgent need for legal recognition of their rights and nature’s rights.

Patricia Gualinga of the Kichwa tribe emphasized incorporating Indigenous cosmology into law, citing Ecuador’s 2008 constitutional amendment that granted nature equal rights and recently helped ban mining in Los Cedros Forest in 2024. Diana Chavez shed light on the barriers Indigenous communities face accessing climate funds, noting less than 1% of global climate financing reaches them directly. She called for governance reforms to ensure Indigenous voices shape conservation efforts.

Notably, Esthela Noteno shared her community’s successful guayusa agroindustry, illustrating how Indigenous practices support both environmental and economic sustainability.

Coinciding with this event, Brazil celebrated Dia da Amazônia on September 5. The occasion also marked the launch of the 'Virada Cultural Amazônia de Pé' campaign, urging voters in the upcoming October 4 elections to support candidates committed to preserving the Amazon. Catarina Nefertari, co-director of Amazônia de Pé, highlighted the importance of amplifying Indigenous and local community voices in electoral debates. Recent data show a hopeful trend: deforestation in the Amazon dropped 36.87% from August 2025 to July 2026, the lowest since 2016, with 60% of Indigenous lands experiencing zero deforestation.

Together, these developments underscore the crucial leadership of Indigenous women as protectors of the Amazon and the growing political and social momentum to safeguard their rights and the forest’s future.