For decades, indigenous leader Nemonte Nenquimo has been battling to keep her Amazon rainforest home in Ecuador safe from exploitation by oil companies — now she hopes U.S. President-elect Joe Biden will become an ally in that fight.
Her message from the Waorani people she represents to Biden in Washington D.C. is: respect our forests and culture.
"As indigenous peoples, the Amazon is our home and we will always protect it," said Nenquimo, 35, president of the Waorani Pastaza Organization. "But for the rest of the world, the Amazon is treated as a place for looting.