Nina Gualinga
Nina Gualinga (born June 1993)[1] is an Ecuadorian environmental and indigenous rights activist. She is part of the Kichwa-speaking community. She has spent most of her life working for better environmental protection of the Ecuadorian Amazon and the living wildlife. She also worked for the people who are depending on this environment.[2][3]
Nina Gualinga | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1993 (age 30–31) |
| Nationality | Ecuadorian |
| Alma mater | Lund University |
| Occupation(s) | Climate Activist and indigenous rights Defender |
| Known for | Environmental activism |
| Relatives | Helena Gualinga (sister) Patricia Gualinga (aunt) |
| Awards | 2018 WWF International President’s Youth award |
Early life and career
changeGualinga was born and raised in her mother's Kichwa-speaking community of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon.[3][4] in a wooden house in Puyo, Pastaza.[5] Since the age of seven, she has worked for climate justice and indigenous rights.[3][6][7] She got her knowledge of the forest from her parents and grandparents.[2] She is a granddaughter of Cristina Gualinga.[8] Gualinga’s sister, Helena Gualinga, and mother, Noemí Gualinga are also environmental activists.[4] Her aunt Patricia is also a land defender. Her uncle Eriberto is a movie maker. He documents the Sarayaku resistance.[9]
She is currently studying human rights at Lund University.[10][11][4]
Activism
changeHer family was active in the Kichwa Sarayaku community's fight against the exploitation of the Amazon rainforest. The forest was exploited by companies and the Ecuadorian government. Gualinga's works for indigenous and territorial rights started when an oil company with the help of Ecuadorian government military troops violently started exploiting her community's indigenous land.[4] This intrusion led to a legal battle between the Ecuadorian government and Sarayaku community before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which eventually resulted to a victory for the Sarayaku community.[2][12][7] At the age of 18, Gualinga represented the youth of Sarayaku at the final hearing of the case.[3][2][6]
Gualinga had an indigenous fellowship at Amazon Watch. She developed the proposal for her own non-governmental organization. She aimed at empowering indigenous Sarayaku’s youth and women. She wanted protect the Southern Ecuadorian Amazon.[6] Her organization, Hakhu Amazon Design, sells handmade artisanal jewelry and accessories.[3][6][13] She demands that the Ecuadorian government acknowledge the Amazon forest itself as a property. She also demands the government to end its contracts with major oil and mining companies.[2]
She is also active as an indigenous rights activist on an international level. She focused on protecting homes and land against corporate interests.[12][4] She was part of a global call to stop fossil fuel extraction at the 2014 People’s Climate March.[11][14] She was also among the delegates working for "Living Forests" protection. It was at the global climate conferences COP20 and COP21, in Lima and Paris respectively.[11][6] In the course of COP21, she drew attention to her people’s demands by sailing down the river Seine in Paris in a canoe from her village.[15] In 2016, she was among a group of indigenous women from 7 nationalities. They united to march in defense of indigenous rights and territories.[13][6] Gualinga drew more attention on the effects of climate change on the Kichwa people at the COP22 in Marrakech. She encouraged the government to prioritize climate actions to reduce carbon emissions for the indigenous people.[12][7] She was part of the Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN), Amazon Watch and Sarayaku Delegation to COP23 in Bonn and a speaker at the event.[16][17] Nina was also part of the WECAN delegation at the COP25 climate discussion in Madrid in 2019.[18] At the event, she called for the world to stop extracting fossil fuel. She also called to listen to indigenous peoples. These people have protected their lands for millennia, for solutions to the climate crisis: "If we don’t listen to indigenous peoples, if we don’t listen to indigenous women we are not going to get out of this crisis."[13] She gave a lecture on Indigenous People of the Amazon: The Guardians of Our Future at IAAC Auditorium, Barcelona on 25th of February 2020.[19][4]
Awards
change- 2018 WWF International President’s Youth award[3]
References
change- ↑ "Nina Gualinga, la luchadora ambiental que batalla contra la violencia de género". El Universo (in Spanish). 2020-07-04. Archived from the original on 11 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-11.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 "Activist Nina Gualinga on protecting the Amazon". World Wildlife Magazine. World Wildlife Fund. Winter 2018. Archived from the original on 29 February 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 "Environmental and indigenous rights activist to receive WWF's top youth conservation award". World Wide Fund For Nature (Press release). Cartagena. 2018-05-08. Archived from the original on 28 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 "Nina Gualinga > IAAC Lecture Series". Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia. 2020-02-18. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ Castro, Mayuri (2020-12-13). "'She goes and helps': Noemí Gualinga, Ecuador's mother of the jungle". Mongabay. Archived from the original on 2021-01-26. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 "Nina Sicha Siren Gualinga | SDLAC". Sustainable Development in Latin America & the Caribbean. 2018. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 "Climate justice day at COP22 considers climate impacts on indigenous people - Business & Human Rights Resource Centre". Business & Human Rights Resource Centre. 17 November 2016. Archived from the original on 2021-04-02. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ Carlos Fresneda, Puerto (2020). Ecohéroes: 100 voces por la salud del planeta. RBA Libros. ISBN 9788491877172.
En la Amazonia, las guardianas de la Pachamama (Madre Tierra) han sido secularmente las mujeres. Nina Gualinga (nacida en 1994) es la heredera de una largea tradición que viene de su abuela Cristina, de su madre Noemí y de su tía Patricia, amenazada de muerte por defender su tierra frente al hostigamiento de las grandes corporaciones petroleras, mineras or madereras.
- ↑ León, José María (April 23, 2019). "Tierra de resistentes | Consejo de Redacción". Tierra De Resistentes. Archived from the original on 28 October 2020. Retrieved 2021-04-02.
- ↑ "Indigenous Environmental Activism in the Amazon: Nina Gualinga". Never Apart. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Gualinga, Nina (2014-12-12). "Indigenous Voices: A Call to Keep the Oil in the Ground". HuffPost. Archived from the original on 16 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 "OHCHR | Spotlight on indigenous rights at COP22 climate talks". www.ohchr.org. 17 November 2016. Archived from the original on 10 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 "People Power Rises for Climate Justice at COP25: WECAN International Analysis & Reflection". WECAN International. 2019-12-21. Archived from the original on 4 February 2021. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ "Indigenous Voices: A Call to Keep the Oil in the Ground". Amazon Watch. 13 December 2014. Archived from the original on 31 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ "8 women who are changing the world without you even realising". LifeGate. 2016-03-07. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ "Women's Voices for Climate Justice". Women's Voices for Climate Justice. Archived from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ "Amazon Watch and Sarayaku Delegation to COP 23". Amazon Watch. Archived from the original on 13 January 2018. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ "Advocacy at UN Climate Forums". WECAN International. Archived from the original on 4 December 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.
- ↑ Cm | (2020-02-24). "Nina Gualinga Lecture". Architecture Walks and Tours in Barcelona. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 2020-11-10.