• Nemonte Nenquimo is a climate leader combining the fight against climate change to the fight to preserve the lifestyle of the Waorani and other indigenous peoples.
• Nemonte managed to legitimise environmental and indigenous rights through an historic win at the Ecuadorian Supreme Court.
• Nemonte had an impact both a local and international level by raising awareness through different channels. 

Why is Nemonte Nenquimo’s heat level HOT?

Answer: Nemonte Nenquimo has brought climate policies intertwined with indigenous rights to the forefront of Ecuadorian politics

Nemonte Nenquimo, born in 1985 in the Pastaza region of the Ecuadorian Amazon, can be considered as a climate activist. The estimation of her heat level as HOT lies in her successful protection of the Amazon rainforest.

The environmental challenges of Ecuador can be identified in the nation’s reliance on the oil and mining industry. The nation’s two most recent presidents (President Guillermo Lasso (2021-2023) and President Daniel Noboa (2023-present)) have both invested in opening up the oil and mining industries to  foreign investors in an effort to boost the nation’s economy; mining only currently accounts for 1% of the nation’s GDP. This is incentivising the government to expand mining activities into the Amazon rainforest into underground oil pools.  

Nenquimo was successful in her activism through a combination of the online campaign ‘Our Rainforest is Not For Sale’ and the subsequent petition receiving 378,000 signatures. Most importantly, she was able to lead and win a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government’s expansion of the oil industry into native Waorani lands. Her policies are partially effective in carrying out her personal goals as she demonstrates her role as a guardian of the Amazon, acting as an example for other indigenous peoples in securing their legal rights. 

However, Nenquimo does not hold an official governmental role and therefore her success was limited as she cannot make direct change concerning climate change policies and has to rely on public support in pressuring the Ecuadorian government to act in the environment’s interest.

Nenquimo’s success is not limited to Ecuador as her policies have also increased her popularity massively demonstrated by the increased use of her name online in correspondence with climate change not only within Ecuador but also across the world as she became a figure of climate change activism and the indigenous rights movement. This materialised in Nemonte Nenquimo being named as one of Time Magazine’s Most Influential people of 2020. 

What is changing Nemonte Nenquimo’s heat level?

Answer: Nemonte is legitimising the rights of the indigenous people and Ecuadors’ environmental rights though formal actors, such as the Supreme Court of Ecuador 

Nemonte Nequimo’s main goal is to fight for the rights of her ancestral land and the traditions related to the natural cultivation practices, the respect for the forest and the river. The passionate fight for these rights has drawn international attention by implementing ecotourism practices, that the country’s short term economic interests of the politicians shall not prevail on the long term wellbeing of an entire population and their land. 

In the attempt to fight against the illegal drilling of protected areas of forest, Nequimo brought the issue in front of the national courts. The courts legitimised and reconfirmed what was already part of international treaties: indigenous and environmental rights shall be protected. This created a considerable precedent, not only in Ecuador but also worldwide demonstrating that indigenous populations not only have the right to be consulted by the government for activities that affect them, but can also become a strength for a country trying to implement sustainable economic development. In fact, By implementing Ecotourism practices, Nenquimo has demonstrated that the economy can only prosper when nature is respected.

What is driving Nemonte Nenquimo?

Answer: Nemonte is driven by the practices and beliefs of the Waorani indigenous tribe.

Nemonte founded both the Ceibo Alliance and Amazon Frontlines, both of which focus on preventing destruction of the Amazon rainforest. She acts as a leader for members of her own Waorani tribe. These traditional roles and values can also be seen driving Nemonte concerning her climate views as she demonstrates her passion to protect and safeguard the Amazon from the oil industry.

She is a member of the Waorani tribe and having grown up within the forest, her connection to the natural world plays a key role in motivating her policies and climate activism.

A key element of her belief system is the concept of animism, whereby the physical and spiritual worlds are connected. Through this, the Waorani believe that the natural world around them is inhibited by ancestral spirits and entities. 

Nemonte’s motivation in the fight against climate change can be seen to have sparked when she visited her aunts in a neighbouring village at the age of 12. On this trip, she saw the government’s expansion of the oil industry within the Amazon, she says  

What does this mean for  you?

Answer: Nemonte showcases a rise in the formalisation of indigenous rights as land rights, forming part of a larger climate policy framework.

Nemonte Nequimo is not merely a climate activist; in fact, her policies combine environmental rights and indigenous rights, demonstrating how the two are deeply interconnected and particularly depend on each other. 

By bringing the communities together, she then proceeded in creating a common strategy at a local level, by creating awareness and assigning to each community a specific task, and also at an institutional level by using the numbers of the alliance to lobby political and legal institutions. An example of that was her successful efforts in mobilising indigenous communities against the latest Ecuadorian referendum on drilling in the rainforest.

This same strategy could be applied to different parts of the world and be re-adopted at a smaller scale; for example by creating connection points among indigenous and local communities and by highlighting the environmental issues these face locally. This inspires active change by organising protests and initiatives to raise awareness locally.

In addition, given the importance of the Amazon, Nemonte’s project allows visitors to explore the indigenous communities and remote past traditions by re-establishing a connection with the land. This is an activity that many countries decided to implement in the name of the recovery of national heritage and history.It is also important to consider President Noboa’s win in 2023, and his greater focus on security, corruption and the economy rather than climate concerns.

IExRAIA Summer Research Program:

This article is based on 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