The character of a leader, together with their achievements, is the product of a series of events that shape their awareness and the creation of their mission. In the case of Nemonte Nequimo, a deep interest in nature was awakened during her childhood. Later, this interest, combined with the need to take concrete action to protect the land, characterised her development as a leader. Specifically, it was when Nequimo realised that the future of her people was in danger that she understood she had no choice but to act.
For the purpose of this research, the moment that shaped Nequimo’s character and her approach to climate change will be called her “defining moment.” Certain milestones in her life journey contributed to defining her strategies and her involvement in climate activism. This section aims to explain what led to Nequimo’s successes and what made her approach to climate change unique. To do this, her childhood will be analysed to identify how her origins influenced her approach to the land she lives in, together with her initial steps as an activist will be retraced to understand the origins of her strategy.
This analysis will be connected to the characteristics that makes Nequimo a unique climate leader, and the characteristics that allowed her to have an impact in Ecuador.
To understand the character of a leader, it is essential to acknowledge the context in which they were raised, as it contains the key to understanding where certain beliefs have their roots. As demonstrated in this section, it is the deep connection that Nequimo built with her ancestry and her people that allowed her to understand the necessary actions to protect the heritage of her tribe and the Amazon.
In fact, Nemonte Nequimo was raised as an indigenous Waorani in the Ecuadorian Amazon, between the Curaray and Napo rivers. This area is considered one of the most fertile in the world, with a complex ecosystem and rich biodiversity. The Waorani people have been living in these lands for centuries, and today the community is estimated to comprise 5,000 people among different sub-tribes, all characterised by a traditional hunter-gatherer lifestyle and a deep belief in animism.
Animism, which is central to understanding Nequimo’s character development, is the belief that physical and spiritual worlds are interconnected. The Waorani believe that spirits are present throughout the world and that ancestral spirits inhabit the forest, plants, and animals, ensuring the continuation of the circle of life. As the Waorani say, ‘the rivers and trees are our life’, based on the conviction that their existence depends on the connection created with nature. Beyond spiritual beliefs, the forest, rivers, and plants constitute the main source of sustenance for the tribes, who support themselves through hunting, fishing, gathering fruits and nuts, and practising shifting agriculture, a technique to preserve soil fertility through plot rotation and moderate cultivation.
Since communities rely almost exclusively on the resources provided by the land and water, the veneration and respect for nature are values ingrained in the tribe’s education. Nequimo was no exception. She reports, ‘I grew up surrounded by the songs of the wise women of my community who said the green forest we see today is there because our ancestors protected it.’ Encouraged to establish a deep connection with nature by her surroundings and her grandfather—a respected figure in the tribe known for his hunting skills who taught her to recognize different plants and animals—Nequimo began to understand the importance of her environment from the beginning of her childhood.
Nenquimo’s defining moment came at the age of 12, when she visited her aunts in a village near her home. At the time, the government began building roads and infrastructure to support foreign oil companies investing in the Amazon in exchange for oil extraction. Nequimo recalls, ‘I was 12, and the impact it made was very strong, to see the flames and smoke shooting from the oil well… I don’t know how people can live there, with all that noise.’
Witnessing these incursions into the environment driven by economic interests marked a turning point for Nequimo. She realised that the value of the environment she grew up in was not only defined by the spirits of her ancestors or the plants and animals that sustain life in the Amazon, but also by a contrasting vision that saw the forest’s resources as revenue sources for foreign companies.
As time passed, Nequimo saw her territory transform from a vast stretch of land characterised by the sound of nature to a landscape of smoke and noise from drilling. Cement roads became more frequent, the river soon became polluted by the discharge from industry, and planes flying over the village in the Amazon became a daily occurrence. Nemonte herself explains how her brothers and sisters would stare at the sky and hear the planes that only the white people were allowed to bring.
Those white people were the same ones who would bring to their villages ‘gifts of candy, clothes, earrings, and dolls with blond hair,’ but over the years Nemonte describes as ‘they brought other things too: God, polio, alcohol, and oil executives waving contracts to access oil reserves.’
As the incursions from foreign oil companies grew, so did Nequimo’s sense of urgency to protect the land. Especially, the feeling that if no one stopped the foreign oil companies, they would fully exploit the forest, leading to the destruction of their homeland and the resources that represent life for the community. Nemonte realised that the government was on the side of the oil companies, as they were the one allowing the economy to develop, and that if they wanted to protect their home, they had to do it themselves, as no one else had as much interest in protecting the place that generations of Waorani considered home: the forest.
However, despite Nequimo’s motivation and interest in protecting the forest and the land, she realised that isolated efforts would not suffice. The magnitude and power of the threat required a united front and support that could go beyond her single tribe. Therefore, she decided to bring together all the indigenous leaders and communities across the Ecuadorian Amazon that, like her own tribe, shared a deep connection with nature and felt the need to unite against a common threat.
In 2014, Nequimo co-founded the Ceibo Alliance as a platform to unify indigenous leaders and communities across the Amazon, including communities in Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia. The alliance aimed to coordinate efforts, share resources, and strategise collectively to defend their lands and rights. To create and strengthen the alliance, Nequimo travelled to various tribes, listened to their concerns, and shared her vision of united resistance.
With the creation of the alliance, Nequimo highlighted the commonalities among the tribes, whose wishes had been ignored in favour of foreign incursions. By emphasising values such as respect for the land and the collective history of resistance and independence, Nequimo fostered a sense of unity.
As a result, the creation of the alliance marked the first concrete step by Nequimo to establish a platform to counter the exploitative actions supported by the Ecuadorian government.
As the alliance began to grow, Nenquimo became popular in the Amazon area. This after she brought together the different communities having in common the interest to safeguard their land and forest. In fact, what was missing was a strong action that could mark the end of the land exploitation and see the communities achieve their goals.
In 2019, Nequimo co-filed a lawsuit with Ecuador’s human rights public advocate against the Ecuadorian government. This case, which marked the culmination of Nequimo’s efforts and is the reason why she became known worldwide as a leader for the environment and indigenous rights, brought the certainty that the Ecuadorian government should engage free, prior and informed consent to respect international and national law.
As a consequence of the verdict, the Ecuadorian government carried out a referendum to ask people and indigenous tribes for consent to carry out mining and extraction activities in the territory. As a result of Nequimo’s raising awareness among the tribes, but also among Ecuadorians living in the country, the result of the referendum demonstrated the power of her communication to the people. The communication was characterised by simply explaining the necessity tribes have to preserve the Amazon and how this is in the interest of the entire country long-term.
In fact, Ecuadorians have voted in a historic referendum to halt the development of all new oil wells in the Yasuní national park in the Amazon, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Voters opted to safeguard the unique biosphere by a margin of nearly 20% with more than 90% of the ballot counted – with more than 58% in favour and 41% against, according to Ecuador’s National Electoral Commission.
The impact of the referendum not only aims at legitimising the people’s choice and the indigenous right to save their land but has kept about 726m barrels of oil underground. Moreover, the referendum was characterised by a particularly high turnout, considering that the majority of the people living in tribes live in remote areas and travelled for days just to vote in the referendum. In addition, the result symbolises the clear position Nequimo’s tried to convey since the foundation of the Ceibo Alliance: land protection must prevail over mere economic interests.
The result marked Nequimo’s mission recognition not only locally but also internationally. The case gave her cause international resonance, making the rights of indigenous people recognized and also set the precedent for the government recognizing indigenous people’s rights and role in fighting against climate change, interlinking for the first time the right of the tribes with the right to live in a safe and secure environment.
IExRAIA Summer Research Program:
This article is an excerpt from a report about Nemonte Nenquimo produced as part of an RAIA research program on climate leaders. For a full picture of Nenquimo’s climate leadership read the full report. This project was fully financed by IE University’s IE School of Politics, Economics and Global Affairs.
Authors: Lucinda Schüler and Matilde Romagnoli
Editor: Ksenia Kumanina
Project Lead: Francia Morales
