Nina Gualinga Women's Day
Author: Maria S.
Level: 4
Instructor: Natasha A.
Photo Credit: CIFOR / Flickr / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
Article ID: 2191 [Heroines- Summer 2021]
Nina Gualinga was born in 1994, in the Kichwa community of Sarayaku in the Ecuadorian Amazon. She is the daughter of a Kichwa Sarayaku mother and a Swedish father.
Since the age of eight, Nina has been advocating for environmental justice and indigenous people´s rights by participating in forums as a representative of her community. In 2018, Nina´s efforts to protect nature and the communities of the Amazon were commemorated by the World Wide Forum for Nature (WWF) with the International President's Youth Award; this was given to Nina at a time when the region is threatened due to the exploitation and unsustainable use of natural resources.
In another hand than her social and environmental work, she has a personal life and family. She had a hard relationship with her husband, for these reason she left her house with her child.
Currently, she continues to represent the community, calling for indigenous rights and a fossil fuel-free economy in various national and international forums, such as the last climate summit in Paris.
In addition, she has one of the seven inspiring environmental Instagram accounts that Vogue´s magazine say "you need to follow now".