On International Women’s Day, Indigenous women from across the Ecuadorian Amazon traveled by foot, car, and canoe to Puyo with a single, unified demand: No more oil in the Amazon.
A March in Defense of Life
The march came at a critical moment. Ecuador’s government is pushing forward two oil auctions that would open undrilled, roadless rainforests to industrial extraction, despite warnings from Indigenous peoples, climate scientists, and civil society. With the Amazon rainforest approaching an ecological tipping point, the consequences of expanding oil operations extend far beyond Ecuador’s borders.
For the women who marched in Puyo, the threat is not abstract. Oil drilling pollutes the rivers their communities depend on for drinking water, fishing, and food – bringing sickness to their children and families. Extractive industries bring violence against women and girls, and where oil is drilled, the burden of sustaining life falls hardest on women.
The Rainforest Speaks with the Voice of a Woman
One sign from the march captured it best – “La selva habla en voz de mujer.” The rainforest speaks with the voice of a woman.
Amazonian women are among the most effective defenders of the forest. They hold ancestral knowledge of their territories. They organize their communities, document violations, and carry their demands to national and international decision-making spaces, often at great personal risk. Their leadership is central to the defense of the Amazon.
Amazon Watch Stands With Women Defenders
Through our Women Defenders program, Amazon Watch works in solidarity with Indigenous women leaders across the Amazon, amplifying their demands internationally, supporting rapid response when they face criminalization or violence, and directing resources to women-led initiatives that build health and economic alternatives to extraction.
The women who marched in Puyo on March 8 are part of a broader movement that refuses to accept the sacrifice of their territories, their rivers, and their futures. Their voices deserve to be heard far beyond the streets of Ecuador.
