Indigenous women have long been guardians of the Amazon rainforest. Their fight to defend their ancestral lands and cultures from the encroachment of extractive industries and illegal activities has persisted for generations—long before environmental protection became a global priority. Today, Indigenous women are increasingly taking the lead in monitoring their rainforest lands and stepping into key leadership roles within their communities. By breaking barriers and asserting their place on the frontlines, Indigenous women are driving the fight to safeguard the rainforest, preserve their cultures, and shape the future of our planet.

For Indigenous women, protecting the rainforest also means challenging deep-rooted gender inequalities, including waves of gender-based violence, unequal caregiving workloads, and limited economic autonomy. In Peru, gender-based violence remains a critical issue, with Indigenous women in the Amazon region facing particularly high rates of abuse¹. Nationally, more than a quarter of women have been subjected to physical violence by their partner, and in the Amazonas region, this rises to just over half². Yet, despite these challenges and longstanding exclusion from forest monitoring and leadership—roles traditionally deemed “men’s work”—Indigenous women in the heart of Peru’s Amazon are rising as powerful defenders of their lands.

Breaking Barriers

Indigenous federations in the Napo and Amazon river basins in northern Peru, with support from the Organización Regional de los Pueblos Indígenas del Oriente (ORPIO) and Rainforest Foundation US (RFUS), have launched measures that support Indigenous women taking leadership roles in forest monitoring within their communities, ensuring greater representation of women in the program. These efforts are designed to support women by equipping them with essential forest monitoring skills, including training in smartphone and drone use. They also provide financial incentives to strengthen economic autonomy and establish childcare spaces to ease caregiving responsibilities, ensuring that women can fully participate and engage in workshops. Since the launch of RFUS’s forest monitoring program—Rainforest Alert—the number of women monitors has grown from three to 26 (out of a total of 236), with women now actively training one another and aiming to scale up their participation even further.

For Jhuliana Sebastian Gomez from the San Francisco de Yahuma community and Beria Tamna Macedo from the Santa Rosa del Caño community, both located in the Loreto region of Peru’s Amazon near the Colombian and Brazilian borders, becoming forest monitors was a powerful act of breaking down significant barriers.

Jhuliana, now 25 and the first female leader in her community, faced violence from her partner that escalated when she began working as a forest monitor at the age of 21. He opposed her involvement, but she was determined to continue the work she loved. Jhuliana met the same resistance when she was elected as her community leader. Despite her partner’s opposition, she stepped into this leadership role and continued her work as a forest monitor. Reflecting on her decision, Jhuliana said: “What I’m doing is for the sake of my community. Despite so many problems I have had with my partner by being a monitor and leader of my community, I am doing it for the good of my community, and therefore I will not give up.”

Beria, 30 years old, has been fighting her own battle with gender inequality while navigating her role as a forest monitor for the past two years. At her community’s general assembly, Beria felt a deep sense of sadness and resignation as she watched two men being nominated as forest monitors. Expecting a third man to be chosen in a community where men had always been prioritized, she doubted her chances. But to her surprise, her uncle—a respected elder—spoke up and nominated her, recognizing her skills in technology. Now, she proudly operates drones to oversee, monitor, and protect her community’s rainforest lands.

“Both men and women can do the same things. There are people who have limits in their mind to say ‘you are a woman, you can’t do it.’ But we can, and this is what I have seen and lived.”

• Beria Tamna Macedo Macedo, Ticuna forest monitor•

Interwoven Ecosystems of Care

Indigenous women navigate deeply interwoven ecosystems of care, where their responsibilities as caregivers extend beyond their families to include their communities and ancestral lands. For Jhuliana, safeguarding the forest is essential to the well-being of her children and future generations.

The caregiving responsibilities that many Indigenous women carry often stand as one of the greatest obstacles to their participation in forest monitoring. Even when they are able to attend workshops, the need to find care for their children limits their ability to fully engage and take advantage of these opportunities.

To support women and remove barriers to their participation, RFUS has helped establish ‘cunas’ (cribs)—safe, trusted spaces where children are cared for by fellow community members while their mothers attend workshops. By alleviating childcare responsibilities, these ‘cunas’ create opportunities for women to fully engage in learning, strengthen their forest monitoring skills, and step into leadership roles.

These spaces also foster intergenerational knowledge-sharing, where children are immersed in their traditional knowledge, languages, and cultural practices—ensuring that their culture continues to thrive for generations to come.

“I love learning new things. In the first monitoring training, we learned how to use phones. I did not know how to use a phone before that. The second training was in Iquitos [the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon], where we learned what a camera is, and how to take photos, and videos. I liked that very much. Sometimes I take pictures of the animals I encounter—it is very easy to find monkeys and macaws. There are quite a few in my territory,” said Jhuliana when discussing the workshops she now has the ability to participate in.

Rubila Samuel, from the Cushillo Cocha community in the northeastern region of Peru, works at the ‘cunas’ taking care of children while women participate in workshops.

When describing her work she said, “Other women thank me. And I tell them that I started working here so that they can participate in the meetings. The women tell me that because I am helping take care of their children, they can now attend the workshops and learn new monitoring skills… .The children are very happy when they see me arrive. They run and shout to greet me. They call me “teacher.”

Leading the Fight to Protect the Amazon

Thanks to these initiatives—and the remarkable bravery and determination of these women to break barriers, protect the rainforest, and care for their children (and in Rubila’s case, those of others)—Indigenous women are stepping into stronger leadership roles within their communities. When Jhuliana was first appointed as Apu, or the leader of her community, she felt nervous and uncertain about her abilities.

“Maybe they saw my responsibility (as a forest monitor) and had confidence in me. When I was chosen, I did not accept at first, for fear of being unprepared, for lack of experience. I was nervous, I didn’t know how to be an Apu, but little by little, I learned.”

Indigenous women in leadership roles challenge deep-seated gender norms as they continue to face prejudice in traditionally male-dominated roles. At the same time, they must also navigate escalating threats to their rainforest lands, including logging, deforestation, land grabbing, illegal mining, and the worsening impacts of climate change. In 2024, the Amazon rainforest suffered its most extreme drought in recent history, with Peru among the hardest-hit. This crisis, a direct consequence of climate change, severely impacted Indigenous communities by cutting off river transportation, limiting access to food and water, devastating wildlife, and forcing governments like Peru’s to declare a state of emergency.

Jhuliana described the immense challenges her community faced during the drought: “The river was dry; there was no water. We had to carry the water by walking. For our families it was difficult. Sometimes we had to use the little water that was left in the river. The children got sick because they drank dirty water.”

Now, as the Apu, her community of 118—children, adults, and elders—rely on her for guidance and solutions. With the economic incentives from RFUS’s forest monitoring program, her community was able to install an elevated water tank, providing some relief from the drought’s impacts. While this measure helps, it is only a temporary fix to a much deeper environmental crisis.

Honoring Indigenous Women Today and Always

As climate change accelerates and threats to the Amazon grow, the role of Indigenous women on the frontlines of rainforest protection has never been more vital. Their efforts are not only essential for their communities but also for the health of the entire planet. This International Women’s Day, we honor the resilience, courage, and determination of Indigenous women. For too long, they have been made to feel invisible, yet they continue to lead, protect, and fight for life itself. By defending their lands, they are safeguarding one of the world’s most critical ecosystems—and with it, our shared future. Their fight is a powerful reminder that true environmental protection must be driven by Indigenous leadership and the amplification of women’s voices on the frontlines of the crisis.

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Sources:

1. Wilson Center, The Prevalence of Violence against Women among Different Ethnic Groups in Peru, July 18, 2018. ↩︎
2. United Nations Population Fund, “We say: Yes, you can”: Facing adversity and protecting women in the Peruvian jungle, September 13, 2024. ↩︎