Gabriela Prioli

Indigenous rights advocate leading global movements to protect Amazon rainforest biodiversity

Gabriela Prioli: Amazon's Guardian

Brazilian environmental lawyer Gabriela Prioli (b. 1990) is founder of Justiça Ambiental, an organization stopping over 300 illegal deforestation projects since 2020. Her innovative legal strategies have become global models for protecting indigenous lands against corporate exploitation.

Legal Innovations

Prioli pioneered the Cultural Heritage Defense framework, successfully used in 2022 to block the Belo Monte Dam expansion threatening Yanomami ancestral lands. Her team's ICC case against Brazil's environmental ministers led to historic 2024 convictions under international law. The Rainforest Justice app she developed allows real-time reporting of illegal logging through AI-powered satellite tracking.

Community Empowerment

Through Guardians of the Amazon, Prioli has trained 1,200 indigenous rangers in drone surveillance and legal advocacy. Her Seed Sovereignty Project protects traditional crop varieties by creating blockchain-tracked seed banks. In 2023, her coalition secured 15 million hectares of new protected areas through grassroots lobbying campaigns.

Global Influence

Prioli's work inspired the 2025 UN Amazonia Pact, a binding agreement among nine South American nations. Her memoir "Roots in the Rainforest" became a 2024 bestseller, translated into 14 languages. The documentary "The Guardian's Forest" won a 2023 Emmy, highlighting her team's 2022 confrontation with illegal miners in the Javari Valley.