Nemonte Nenquimo

Nemonte Nenquimo (born May 8, 1985, Nemonpare, Ecuador) is an Indigenous activist, author, and leader of the Waorani people of the Ecuadorian Amazon. She is internationally recognized for her advocacy of Indigenous rights and environmental conservation. In 2019 Nenquimo led the Waorani tribe in a landmark legal battle that resulted in a court ruling to protect 500,000 acres of Amazon rainforest and Waorani territory from oil extraction. The decision also mandated that no land could be auctioned off without the tribe’s free, prior, and informed consent—setting a powerful legal precedent for Indigenous rights across the Amazon and inspiring other Indigenous communities to take similar actions to defend their ancestral lands.

Personal and cultural background

Nenquimo grew up in the community of Nemonpare, within the ancestral territory of the Waorani people, in the Pastaza region of the Ecuadorian Amazon. From a young age she was drawn to the communal life of her people and actively participated in cultural preservation efforts. She was especially inspired by the oral histories passed down by elders in her community, which often recounted life before the arrival of Christian missionaries in the 1950s, when the Waorani lived in relative isolation. Reflecting on this period, Nenquimo has spoken about her grandfather, a traditional Waorani leader who defended their tribal territory from those outside intrusions. “My grandfather was a leader and he protected our land from incursions from outsiders,” she told the BBC. “He literally spearheaded that defense by confronting intruders, spear in hand.”

Although Nenquimo was raised in a part of the Amazon largely untouched by natural resource extraction, she recalled a formative visit to a relative living near an extractive oil site. At age 12, Nemonte traveled with her father to see an aunt whose community was located near an active oil well. “The impact was very strong,” she later said of the visit. “To see the flames and smoke shooting from the oil well.” The experience gave her an early understanding of environmental harm caused by extractive industries and of the social disintegration that often follows, especially for Indigenous communities. Almost two decades later, in 2018, when the Ecuadorian government announced plans to auction 16 new oil concessions—covering more than seven million acres of rainforest—Nenquimo took action. She emerged as a key leader in the Waorani resistance, organizing Indigenous communities to defend their land from renewed incursions by the state and oil companies.

Activism and legal victories

As a child, Nenquimo was encouraged by elders in her community to take on a leadership role. In Waorani society women have traditionally assumed positions of leadership—particularly in earlier generations, when women would lead community life while men were away during inter-tribal warfare. Nenquimo has drawn upon this legacy in her own leadership, combining ancestral values with contemporary forms of activism. For example, in 2015 she cofounded the Ceibo Alliance, an Indigenous-led organization that brings together Amazonian groups to defend their territories, preserve cultural traditions, and build community resilience in the face of extractive industries. While the alliance was originally formed to oppose oil concessions in Indigenous lands, its scope has expanded to include clean water initiatives, solar energy access, and broader advocacy for Indigenous rights and environmental justice.

In 2015 Nenquimo was also elected president of the Waorani Organization of Pastaza (OWAP), the official body representing the Waorani people of Pastaza. Under her leadership, the organization filed a landmark case against the Ecuadorian government in 2019, challenging the planned auctioning of Waorani territory to oil companies. The court ruled in favor of the Waorani, indefinitely suspending the sale of almost 500,000 acres of Amazonian rainforest. The verdict also provided a legal precedent requiring free, prior, and informed consent before future development could take place on Indigenous land. Moreover, it disrupted the government’s broader plan to auction 16 oil blocks covering over seven million acres of Amazonian territory. It was seen as a significant victory for Indigenous nations across Ecuador. “The government tried to sell our lands to the oil companies without our permission,” Nenquimo said following the ruling. “Our rainforest is our life. We decide what happens in our lands. We will never sell our rainforest to the oil companies.” She added: “Today, the courts recognized that the Waorani people, and all Indigenous peoples, have rights over our territories that must be respected. The government’s interests in oil [are] not more valuable than our rights, our forests, our lives.”

Global recognition and influence

In 2020 Nenquimo was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people, recognized for her leadership in protecting Indigenous land rights and defending the Amazon rainforest. Her inclusion on the list was especially significant as it marked a rare global spotlight on an Indigenous woman from the Amazon, affirming the relevance of her voice in international conversations about environmental conservation, global climate change, and Indigenous rights. That same year, she was also awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, referred to as the “Green Nobel Prize,” for her role in the landmark legal victory of protecting 500,000 acres of Amazonian land and Waorani territory. Nenquimo stated she would be using the $200,000 prize to match donations in order to support other Indigenous groups in Ecuador and globally.

In 2024 Nenquimo coauthored the book We Will Be Jaguars: A Memoir of My People with her husband, Mitch Anderson. The memoir recounts the history of the Waorani people, and tells the story of her life growing up in the Amazon and leading efforts to protect it. It is the first memoir written by an Indigenous woman from the Amazon to be published in seven languages. The book received widespread acclaim and was selected for Reese Witherspoon’s book club, bringing further international attention to Nenquimo’s work and the struggles of her community.

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Nenquimo continues to engage in national and international advocacy through her work with the Ceibo Alliance and in collaboration with organizations such as the United Nations and Greenpeace. Her leadership has contributed to global discussions on Indigenous land rights, environmental protection, and the role of Indigenous knowledge in addressing ecological and social challenges. Her current activities include public speaking, writing, and community organizing, with a focus on land governance, resource management, and the integration of Indigenous perspectives into environmental policy.