Lorena Tapullima

Peruvian environmental leader defending indigenous rights in Amazon rainforest preservation

Lorena Tapullima is an Asháninka indigenous leader from Peru's Amazon region, known for her grassroots activism against illegal logging and mining. Starting in 2014, she organized community patrols with over 500 indigenous volunteers to monitor and report illegal activities in the Ene River basin. Her efforts led to the protection of 1.2 million hectares of ancestral lands by 2018 through collaboration with NGOs like Forest Peoples Programme. Tapullima's advocacy resulted in Peru's first ever legal recognition of indigenous environmental defenders in 2017. She co-founded the Amazon Frontlines initiative, which trains indigenous youth in satellite monitoring technology. Her work gained international attention after a 2019 UN speech where she emphasized: 'Our forests are the planet's lungs, but our people are its life support system.' Despite death threats, she continues organizing cross-border alliances with Brazilian and Bolivian indigenous groups, recently securing a landmark court ruling against a Canadian mining company in 2020.