For generations, women in the Amazon have protected their land. Now they’re joining together to combat one of the greatest threats ever.
They call themselves Earth Defenders. They are women living in the Amazon Rainforest fighting to protect their land from illegal mining, poaching, and other threats.
“We want the world to know that there are women willing to fight for our land. Women trying to leave a legacy for our children,” said Alexandra Narvaez of the A’l Kofan community of Sinangoe in the upper Amazon.
From being the first woman to join her community’s land patrol to helping win a landmark case before Ecuador’s constitutional court, Alexandra is a powerful example of what women can do in the Amazon.
Strength in Numbers
With the support of Daughters for Earth, Alexandra and other women leaders are launching the Women’s Resistance program, which is working to protect five million acres of rainforest across more than 80 Indigenous communities.
Rather than each community working on its own, the Women’s Resistance helps women in the region speak with one voice. The effort is being coordinated by the Indigenous organization, the Ceibo Alliance, which provides everything from leadership training to support for land patrols and women-led eco-tourism businesses.
“We invite everyone to join us as Daughters for Earth. We want to tell the world that we can all unite as allies. We must fight together for a world with pure air to breathe and territories that are intact,” Alexandra said.
