Cristina Gualinga (born 1939/40)[1] is an Ecuadorian environmentalist and activist for indigenous people known for her opposing oil development.
[2] In the 1980s, when American oil company ARCO/Oriente attempted to operate in the ancestral territory of the Kichwa Indigenous community of Sarayaku, in the south central region of the Ecuadorian Amazon, Gualinga and the Sarayaku community organized protests that led to an end in oil operations on their land in 1989.
With her leadership, the Sarayaku won a case against the Government of Ecuador for violating their right to Prior Consultation in the Indigenous Territories.
She was one of nine women, key to defending ancestral lands against government and corporate exploitation, who were depicted in a 50-metre (160 ft) tall mural in Quito by artist Mona Caron.
In a 1996 visit to Florida, she engaged in a speaking campaign at schools and churches about the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, millions of acres having been clearcut in the previous 22 years for oil exploration.