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Equal Rights for Women and Girls

About This Collection

Equal Rights for Women is a major category, like energy or climate change, of sustainability and the voices in this collection are of the present and the past.

If we don't address human rights and social justice of which the sustainability keywords and phrases include children's rights and welfare; human trafficking, slavery, and women's rights and roles, then as David Korten points out, we will not be able to come to terms with the limits of the planet and not even technology will be able to save us. 

 

Curated by mokiethecat

June 29, 2026
Currently, deforestation and extractive industries are significantly threatening the health and stability of the Amazon Rainforest, with scientists warning that it is at a critical tipping point of irreversible damage. Ecuador is facing some of its worst deforestation from mining, agribusiness, oil extraction, and industrial expansion, with deforestation being up 80% from what it was in 2021, resulting in a destroyed 18,902 hectares of forest in a single year. Additionally, as deforestation and extractive projects increase, Indigenous rights are violated, global ecosystems are sacrificed, and Indigenous women land defenders are at higher risk of violence and attack. The WECAN Indigenous Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon Reforestation and Forest Protection project are working to restore and defend the forest, and the project is conducted by Indigenous women of the Amazon as part of the WECAN Women for Forest Program. It is led by WECAN Project Coordinator, Patricia Gualinga, a Kichwa Pueblo Indigenous woman leader of Amazonian Women Defenders of the Jungle (Mujeres Amazónicas Defensoras de la Selva) who advocates for the protection of her homelands in Sarayaku, Ecuador from extractive industries. Working with the Women’s Association of Sarayaku, the WECAN Indigenous Women of the Ecuadorian Amazon Reforestation and Forest Protection Project aims to safeguard the Ecuadorian Amazon’s endemic tree species within the 135,000 hectares of Sarayaku territory to ensure vital ecological integrity. The project includes strategic reforestation and supports long-term forest protection through advocacy for land defender rights, forest monitoring, training sessions and workshops, uplifting women’s leadership, advocacy to stop deforestation by governments and corporations, and highlighting forest solution narratives. As part of the WECAN Women for Forests Program, this project and campaign does not participate in any market-based mechanisms, including carbon offsets, carbon credits, biodiversity offsets, biodiversity credits or REDD+ schemes. You can learn more about our ongoing programming on our website: https://www.wecaninternational.org/ecuador-en

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