Nemonte Nenquimo

Why you should listen

In 2020, Nemonte Nenquimo was named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world for her fearless work in safeguarding one of the most biodiverse and threatened rainforests on the planet. She has emerged as a forceful and original voice in climate activism. After spearheading an alliance of Indigenous nations across the Upper Amazon, she led her people to a landmark legal victory against the oil industry, protecting more than a half million acres of primary rainforest and setting a precedent for the protection of millions more. As Leonardo DiCaprio said of her, "Nemonte lives her fight. She told me that she wasn’t going to give up, that she would continue to defend the forest that she loves from the industries and the oil companies that would devour it. She has kept her word."