Luzmila Catacora

Peruvian indigenous leader protecting Amazon rainforest through legal advocacy

Luzmila Catacora, a Shipibo-Conibo leader from Peru's Ucayali region, has been a pivotal voice for Amazon conservation since 2012. As founder of Pachamama Foundation, she united 23 indigenous communities to legally challenge oil drilling projects threatening ancestral lands. Her landmark 2017 lawsuit against Perupetro halted 30% of planned Amazon drilling operations, protecting 2.1 million hectares of rainforest. This victory established legal precedents for indigenous territorial rights under Peru's constitution.

Born in 1975, Luzmila's grassroots organizing connects traditional ecological knowledge with modern legal strategies. She developed the Guardians of the Forest program training indigenous youth in GPS mapping and environmental law. Over 500 community members now monitor deforestation using satellite technology, sharing data with global platforms like World Resources Institute. Her collaboration with Greenpeace produced the Amazon Heartbeat documentary (2019), which exposed illegal logging networks. Luzmila's advocacy led to UNESCO designating the Alto Mayo Protected Forest as a biosphere reserve in 2019.

Recipient of the Goldman Environmental Prize (2020), Luzmila bridges cultural preservation and global climate action. Her TEDx talk Our Forests, Our Future highlights the critical role of indigenous knowledge in climate solutions. Through her work, indigenous communities now hold 30% of Peru's Amazon under communal management - a 400% increase since 2014.