My name is Nemonte Nenquimo -- I'm a Waorani woman, and a defender of the Amazon. Right now, the Ecuadorian government wants to auction off 8 million acres of pristine rainforest to oil companies. But this land is not empty: it pulses with the scent of rain-soaked earth, the wisdom of our elders, and the laughter of our children. It is home. The government is hoping no one is watching -- but we carry the truth in our scars. Oil has poisoned our children, silenced the forests, and shattered our communities. So now we're fighting back -- in the courts and on the streets. In weeks, the Waorani and other Indigenous Peoples will march to the capital, demanding the Constitutional Court blocks the illegal sale of our lands. But mobilising entire communities from remote areas of the Amazon is costly. We need your help. If enough of you donate, we can expose the government's betrayal, deploy top lawyers to challenge every permit, and power an unstoppable Indigenous resistance to defend what is sacred. Your support will also power Avaaz's global campaign for Indigenous rights. In 2019, with your help, I led my people to a historic court victory, stopping the government's sale of half a million acres of our ancestral land. Today I'm asking for your support again -- this time the stakes could not be higher. Donate what you can now:
| Dear friends, | | My name is Nemonte Nenquimo -- I'm a Waorani woman, and a defender of the Amazon.
Right now, the Ecuadorian government wants to auction off 8 million acres of pristine rainforest to oil companies. But this land is not empty: it pulses with the scent of rain-soaked earth, the wisdom of our elders, and the laughter of our children. It is home.
The government is hoping no one is watching -- but we carry the truth in our scars. Oil has poisoned our children, silenced the forests, and shattered our communities.
So now we're fighting back -- in the courts and on the streets.
In weeks, the Waorani and other Indigenous Peoples will march to the capital, demanding the Constitutional Court blocks the illegal sale of our lands. But mobilising entire communities from remote areas of the Amazon is costly. We need your help.
If enough of you donate, we can expose the government's betrayal, deploy top lawyers to challenge every permit, and power an unstoppable Indigenous resistance to defend what is sacred. Your support will also power Avaaz's global campaign for Indigenous rights.
In 2019, with your help, I led my people to a historic court victory, stopping the government's sale of half a million acres of our ancestral land.
Today I'm asking for your support again -- this time the stakes could not be higher. Donate what you can now: | | | | | | | | | | | | The government is trying to keep the auction in the shadows – and they're moving fast. They know that once the bulldozers start tearing down the forest, it will be harder for us to reclaim our land.  But oil is not the real treasure here – life is. This is where the Andes fold into the lush rainforest basin, and where countless streams merge to feed the Amazon River – sustaining millions of people and an untold number of species downstream. We're up against billion-dollar contracts and an industry built on destruction. But this forest is our entire existence and our children's future. And we, the Indigenous guardians of the Amazon, are not going to let the politicians sell it off for cash. We've stopped them before – and with your help, we can do it again. If we raise enough, we could:- Help fund a wave of coordinated, Indigenous-led lawsuits to save more than 8 million acres of Amazon from oil drilling;
- Support Indigenous resistance across the Amazon, like sponsoring Indigenous marches to the capital, advocacy meetings, and media tours to expose harms from extractive industries;
- Set up an emergency travel fund for Indigenous leaders so they can attend global climate and biodiversity talks, and demand their voices be heard;
- Supercharge Avaaz's campaigns to help increase Indigenous land access and rights across the Amazon, and safeguard Indigenous rights globally.
Being Waorani is itself an act of resistance. Defending our land has been in our blood -- whether with peach palm spears, or with lawsuits and mass mobilisations. Today, more people than ever are standing with us to protect our way of life. Join us once again -- donate what you can now: | | | | | | | | | | | | I've learned that from every threat a chance is born to build something even stronger. In 2019, when saving 500,000 acres of our ancestral land felt impossible, dozens of communities united -- and thousands around the world stood with us. That was just the beginning. There are 8 million acres to defend now, and with this battle we will write a new chapter of Indigenous resistance.
For the forest, always,
Nemonte Nenquimo with Avaaz
Note: Nemonte Nenquimo is an Indigenous Waorani leader, activist, and defender of the Amazon rainforest. She co-founded Amazon Frontlines and the Ceibo Alliance. In 2019, she led a historic legal victory, protecting half a million acres of Indigenous land from oil extraction. She has received multiple international awards for her work on Indigenous rights and environmental justice.
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