Paula Rivera Orellana

Chilean environmental activist who founded Latin America's first indigenous women's cooperative

Paula Rivera Orellana (1928-2015) was a Mapuche leader and environmental advocate who pioneered sustainable development in Chile's Araucanía region. Growing up in a Mapuche community, she witnessed the devastating effects of deforestation and corporate land grabs. In 1958, she co-founded the Cooperativa de Mujeres Mapuche, the first indigenous women's cooperative in Latin America focused on agroecology and cultural preservation.

Her innovative 'Ruk'a' program combined traditional farming techniques with modern ecological practices, tripling crop yields while preserving biodiversity. By 1970, the cooperative had trained over 300 women in sustainable forestry and established 12 community seed banks. During Pinochet's dictatorship, Paula secretly documented Mapuche oral histories and land rights, later used to reclaim ancestral territories through the 1993 Indigenous Law.

Her 1985 book 《The Earth Speaks in Our Tongue》 became a key text in indigenous environmental movements. The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues honored her in 2010 for her work linking gender equality and environmental justice. Today, her cooperative's techniques are taught at universities across Latin America.