Over half of Ecuador’s territory is covered by native forests, with the majority being in the Amazon rainforest which is home to 14 indigenous nationalities, 8% of all animal species and 10% of the planet’s flora. Moreover, Ecuador is ranked 9th in the Global Biodiversity Index. The rainforest is an important element of modern climate change as it acts as a massive carbon sink, storing more than 150 billion tons of carbon.
Therefore, the Amazon and what occurs within it is not only important to Ecuador but also on a global scale. This highlights the importance of its preservation as humans cut down trees to make space for industries such as construction or mining or agriculture, in a process called deforestation. Consequently, less carbon is stored in vegetation and more will be released to the atmosphere, increasing global temperatures up in a process known as the greenhouse effect, leading to climate change.
Deforestation has increased in recent years as our world continues modernising and industrialising, continuously emitting greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and exacerbating the warming of the Earth. This has dangerous knock on effects such as rising sea levels, increased flooding, increased droughts, food shortages and forest fires worldwide.
Although Ecuador’s deforestation can be seen as minimal compared to other Amazonian nations such as Brazil, with Ecuador accounting for only 1% of total loss in the Amazon, the rate of deforestation is increasing. Furthermore, forest fires do not affect the area as much as we can see in Brazil for example, however the greatest cause is human activity in the form of agriculture and mining through patterns of human activity and industrialisation.
The environmental challenges of Ecuador can be identified in the nation’s reliance on the oil and mining industry as both President Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023) and President Daniel Noboa (2023-present) have been opening up the country’s mining and oil industries to foreign companies and investors in an effort to boost the nation’s economy; mining currently only accounts for 1% of the nation’s GDP.,, This has included opening up new mining and oil drilling locations across the country and subsequent rise in emissions and deforestation, with an average of 58 hectares being cleared every day from 1990 to 2016.
However, we can see government efforts to limit their environmental impact through implementing protected zones such as national parks (such as the Yasuní park), but these are far outweighed by contrary actions.
Ecuador was also the first nation to grant constitutional rights to nature in 2008 (Articles 8, 10, 71-74) using a ‘mother nature rhetoric’ which refers to nature as a protecting mother figure which we must protect and provide for. Despite this, polluting industries continue to expand.
The same can be said for the Buen Vivir programme, enhancing lives through different spheres including the environment. However, difficulties have been identified in harmonising ‘its living well agenda with international finance and trade regimes’ which, for Ecuador, takes the form of mining and oil industries. The Ecuadorian government has also disregarded indigenous people, such as after the referendum on oil drilling within Yasuní National Park in which ⅔ of the indigenous people voted to halt operations but were ignored as President Rafael Correa (2007-2017) pushed forward drilling plans in the protected areas.
When viewing these environmental challenges within the nation of Ecuador and the challenges surrounding policies in favour of them, we can see just why Nemonte Nenquimo is motivated in her climate activism.
One of Nenquimo’s primary motivators is her role as a mother. She strives to secure a safe and sustainable future for her children in a clean and flourishing world, similar to the one she grew up in. Being a mother plays a great role in her decisions as they can be seen to make her a sensitive and altruistic climate leader when considering the impacts of her actions upon the world around her as well as through time.
The largest influence on Nemonte’s passion for climate change is arguably her heritage as a member of the Waorani tribe and indigenous upbringing. We can see how the tribe is dependent on the natural resources in the world around them and believe in a deep connection between the land and the people who live there. This creates a desire within the Waorani people to protect the forest because their lives are dependent upon the forest’s survival and flourishing.
This is furthered by the fact that Nemonte and her tribe are directly threatened by the human activity in the forest as the government planned to auction off their ancestral lands within which they lived, therefore she was driven to protect her land for the safety of her people as well as of the forest.
‘Our territory is our decision, and now, since we are owners, we are not going to let oil enter and destroy our natural surroundings and kill our culture.’ As Nemonte explains in her own words, the fight against the oil and mining industries in Ecuador is a matter of security for the Waorani tribe, as well as a fight for the protection of the planet. Moreover the Waorani tribe and the people directly impacted by such government decisions are in fact isolated from the decision making process and are not consulted nor taken into account. This materialises in a lack of information given to indigenous tribes about policies as well as a language barrier which is worsened by a lack of translators at official events.
This was a major influence in Nemonte’s activism as she took on the challenge of connecting the Waorani people with the government to avoid being disregarded in policy making that directly impacts them.
Another key influence in her life is her gender, as within her indigenous tribe, it was common for the men to be at war against other tribes whilst the women stayed home and ran the community and made the decisions. Therefore, this influence is visible as Nemonte honours the indigenous traditional gender role by not only being a decision maker within her indigenous community, but also on an international scale. These are all reasons why Nemonte Nenquimo is passionate and driven to achieving change in climate policy and why she herself is a climate leader.
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
