Nemonte Nenquimo

[1] Nenquimo was the plaintiff in a lawsuit against the Ecuadorian government, which culminated in a 2019 ruling that protects half a million acres of Waorani ancestral land in the Amazon rainforest from oil drilling.

[4] Her grandfather, Piyemo, a legendary Waorani warrior who lived and hunted in what is today known as Yasuni National Park, gave Nenquimo her name.

They formed the Ceibo Alliance to create collective representation for indigenous peoples to address government legislation concerning their territory and natural resources.

[3][10][11][12] During her tenure as president, she co-filed a lawsuit with Ecuador’s human rights ombudsman against the Ecuadorian government, arguing that it had not obtained prior consent from the Waorani to sell parts of their territory to oil corporations.

[4][13] Nenquimo was the plaintiff in the lawsuit, whose 2019 ruling by a three-judge panel of the Pastaza Provincial Court protects half a million acres of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador from oil drilling.

[10][4][3] The verdict states that the Ecuadorian government must engage in the free, prior and informed consent process according to the standards of international law and the Constitutional Court of Ecuador before auctioning land.

Released in June 2024, the book seeks to educate the readers about the history of the Waorani tribe, the centuries of colonization, and the prejudiced viewpoints held by the Western world.

[20][21][22][6] In 2024, the nonprofit she co-founded, Amazon Frontlines, was selected by an international jury to receive the Hilton Humanitarian Prize for their work "on permanently protecting the rainforest homelands of dozens of Indigenous nations from further mining, drilling, and deforestation using grassroots organizing, advocacy, legal defense, and cutting-edge technology like GPS mapping and drone and camera trap surveillance.".