Women who risk their lives to defend the planet

In 1976, the writer and feminist Francoise D'Eaubonne spoke of ecofeminism for the first time, defining the struggles that women undertake in defense of the environment. Ecofeminism also highlights the double violence suffered by both women and nature because of patriarchal and capitalist governments. Despite the discussions that arose around this term in subsequent years, mainly within intellectual circles, the reality indicates that women continue to risk their lives to safeguard the environment.

We will remember some of them, those who emerged from anonymity, but never forgetting that in the most remote places on earth, thousands of women gather and fight against large corporations, indiscriminate mining, and logging.

They are victims of all kinds of violence, from rape to torture, from threats against their families and themselves to homicides. Homicides that, in most cases, go unpunished.

We remember Berta Cáceres who, in Honduras, was murdered in her own home despite her international recognition, shortly after receiving the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize. She had co-founded COPINH, an organization dedicated to the defense of the environment and Lenca culture in Intibucá.

Being a woman, being indigenous, and being an environmental activist for many represents a path towards violence and death. According to data collected by the Environmental Justice Atlas, 81 environmentalist women were killed from the 1970s until 2023. In the study, they explain that: "Routine assassinations of Women Environmental Defenders (WEDs) are not isolated incidents, but rather political tactics forcefully making way for extractivism. Media reports often focus on gruesome details to sensationalize yet trivialize WEDs’ struggles, often not recording names, let alone their struggles."
These data show that cases of violence and death are particularly concentrated in the Global South, but there are also cases in Europe and the United States.

Between 2010 and 2020, according to studies conducted in 12 Latin American countries, more than 340 attacks against indigenous women defenders were recorded.

Among the women who have led and continue to lead environmental activism are those who belong to the "Fuerza de Mujeres Wayuú" group in Colombia and the National Organization of Andean and Amazonian Indigenous Women of Peru (Onamiap), led by Melania Canales.

In Venezuela, Ana María Fernández, from the Yukpa community, continues the fight despite five of her ten brothers being killed, according to her allegations, by hired killers of landowners, military personnel, and Colombian guerrillas. These same individuals threaten to rape and kill other members of her family.

In Peru, Betty Rubio, a Kichwa activist, is the first president of the Federation of Native Communities of the Middle Napo, Curaray, and Arabela in Loreto. She confronts drug trafficking, logging, and illegal mining.

In Ecuador, Josefina Tunki is the leader of many indigenous women committed to defending the land. She is the first leader to preside over the Shuar Arutam People.

In Kenya, Wangari Maathai, a biologist known as the "Tree Woman," founded the Green Belt Movement. Its goal was to combat desertification, deforestation, water crises, and rural famine. In 2004, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her contribution to sustainable development.

Vandana Shiva, an Indian physicist and philosopher, is one of the founders of the Women's Environment & Development Organization (WEDO). Shiva has dedicated her entire life to environmental conservation, an effort for which she has been awarded, among others, the Right Livelihood Award, considered the "alternative Nobel Prize."

Similarly, in India, Rashida Bee is an environmental activist and advocate for the victims of the chemical disaster in Bhopal, where more than 25,000 people died due to a methyl isocyanate gas leak at a pesticide plant owned by the American company Union Carbide (subsequently acquired by Dow Chemical). She also received the Goldman Environmental Prize

Sheila Watt-Cloutier, a Canadian Inuit activist, was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. She fights to stop Arctic pollution. Watt-Cloutier and 62 Inuit hunters and elders from communities in Canada and Alaska filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (OAS), arguing that the United States' uncontrolled emissions of greenhouse gases have violated Inuit cultural and human rights.

Emily Penn, a sailor, fights to prevent plastic pollution in the oceans. With an all-female crew, she co-founded eXXpedition to investigate the causes and solutions to ocean plastic pollution.

Isatou Ceesay, dubbed the "Queen of Recycling," is a Gambian activist who started the recycling movement called One Plastic Bag in Gambia. Her project has not only drastically reduced the amount of waste in her village but also employs hundreds of women in West Africa, providing them with monthly income.

Gloria Majiga-Kamoto is another woman who has been awarded the Goldman Prize for her fight against plastic bags in Malawi. Thanks to her, in July 2019, the Malawi High Court banned the production, importation, distribution, and use of thin plastics like bags.

In Chad, Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, an indigenous and environmental activist, is President of the FSC Indigenous Foundation Council, Coordinator of the Association of Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad (AFPAT), and Coordinator of the Indigenous Peoples Coordinating Committee of Africa (IPACC).

Rachel Carson, an American, contributed to the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Thanks to her, Earth Day began to be celebrated.

Jane Goodall has spent decades advocating for chimpanzees and protecting the environment to ensure species conservation.

All of them are just a few of the thousands of women who fight day after day amidst violence, threats, and murders to defend our planet.