Juliana Betancur

Colombian climate activist leading global youth movements against deforestation in the Amazon basin

Juliana Betancur emerged as a pivotal figure in environmental advocacy through her leadership of the Youth Amazon Movement, an organization she co-founded in 2020. At just 19 years old, she organized the historic 'March for the Amazon' that brought together over 500,000 participants across nine countries in 2022 to protest illegal logging and mining activities. Her strategic use of social media campaigns like #AmazonBurning2.0 reached 2 billion impressions and directly influenced Colombia's 2023 Amazon Protection Law, which doubled penalties for environmental crimes in the region.

Betancur's innovative approach combines traditional indigenous knowledge with modern activism. She works closely with Amazonian communities to create 'bio-cultural corridors' that protect both ecosystems and ancestral territories. In 2024, she pioneered the use of drone technology to monitor illegal activities in remote rainforest areas, a system now adopted by Brazilian and Peruvian environmental agencies. Her TED Talk "Why the Amazon Needs Its Youth" has been viewed over 15 million times. Betancur's recent focus on youth education through the Amazon Youth Academy has trained over 2,000 young leaders in climate science and grassroots organizing, ensuring the continuation of this vital work.