LocationsCelebrating Equator Prize leaders at a turning point for climate and nature
Belém to the world
December 9, 2025
In Kenya, Equator Prize winners Nature and People as One revitalizes drylands using Indigenous knowledge and low-cost techniques, restoring over 550 hectares and strengthening customary natural resource governance.
Photo: Nature and People as One/Equator Initiative
At the major climate meeting (COP30) in Belém, Brazil last month, there was a palpable sense that the global climate agenda had shifted. Negotiators, youth movements, Indigenous leaders, women’s organizations and local communities came together in the Amazon, one of Earth’s most vital climate regulators and cultural heartlands, to demand that action on nature and climate finally match the scale of the crisis.
Across the negotiations, one message rose above the rest. There is no path to climate stability without the leadership, rights, knowledge and empowerment of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. That call was reflected in four major announcements:
- Renewed US$1.8 billion Forest and Land Tenure Pledge which aims to secure Indigenous and community forest rights and halt forest loss by 2030.
- $125 billion Tropical Forest Forever Facility, backed by 53 countries, requiring that 20 percent of funds go directly to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
- The Intergovernmental Land Tenure Commitment which aims to legally secure 160 million hectares of land for Indigenous, Afro-descendant and local communities.
- Countries agreed to triple adaptation finance by 2035 to $120 billion.
Two decades ahead of the curve
In the wake of this global shift, where the world is affirming that Indigenous Peoples and local communities must be at the centre of climate and nature action, this year’s Equator Prize winners show what locally-led transformation truly looks like. In fact, for the Equator Initiative, now in its twenty-fourth year, this moment represents not a shift, but a vindication. The future articulated at COP30 is the world that the Equator Initiative has been championing since 2002.
Since its founding, the Equator Initiative has shown that Indigenous and local leadership drives lasting, tangible results for nature, climate and people. In 84 countries and more than 300 local initiatives, the Equator Prize has honoured extraordinary examples of community leadership, from Amazonian women’s associations to Pacific Island reef guardians, from pastoralist dryland stewards to high-altitude agrobiodiversity custodians. Backed for nearly a quarter of a century by countless renowned thought leaders and celebrities, Equator Prize winners have long embodied what the world is now beginning to prioritize: climate justice, rights-based approaches, secure tenure, gender-equitable leadership and the fusion of traditional knowledge with modern tools and technologies.
In Peru, Quechua communities protect 6,500 hectares of ancestral terraces and 1,281 native crop varieties in the country’s first agrobiodiversity zone.
Photo: WCS/Diego Perez
Introducing the Equator Prize 2025 winners
This year’s 10 winners, hailing from Argentina, Brazil, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Papua New Guinea, Peru and Tanzania were selected from more than 700 nominations in 103 countries. Together, they exemplify the theme 'Nature for Climate Action', with a special emphasis on women- and youth-led solutions.
- Indigenous- and women-led climate justice and governance
In Ecuador, the Hakhu Amazon Foundation mobilizes Indigenous youth and women to defend territories, assert rights and build culturally rooted livelihoods. In Indonesia, the Ranu Welum Foundation trains women firefighters, restores peatlands and empowers Dayak youth as climate leaders. In Argentina, COMAR unites 2,600 Indigenous women artisans in the Gran Chaco to create biodiversity-friendly, women-led economies. - Community-driven restoration and food sovereignty
In India, the Bibifathima Self Help Group advances regenerative agriculture, seed banks, and solar-powered processing in 30 villages. In Kenya, NaPO revitalizes drylands using Indigenous knowledge and low-cost techniques, restoring over 550 hectares and strengthening customary natural resource governance. In Peru, Quechua communities protect 6,500 hectares of ancestral terraces and 1,281 native crop varieties in the country’s first agrobiodiversity zone. - Guardians of forests and oceans
In Papua New Guinea, the Sea Women of Melanesia train Indigenous women as marine scientists and reef stewards. In Tanzania, young leaders with SOA Tanzania restore mangroves and seagrass while building climate-smart ocean enterprises. In Tanah Papua, Mitra BUMMA protects 100,000 hectares of rainforest while scaling tribal governance and sustainable livelihoods. In Brazil’s Amapá, Associação Uasei is building the first Indigenous-led açaí value chain in the state, advancing economic autonomy, cultural preservation and biodiversity protection.
Why Equator Prize winners’ stories matter now more than ever
The commitments announced in Belém on forests, nature-based solutions, climate finance and tenure will only succeed if they reach the hands of communities who manage, protect and depend on the world’s most critical ecosystems. The Equator Prize winners offer the world evidence of what works at the nature-climate interface. This year’s winners show that when women lead, when youth are empowered, when ancestral knowledge informs governance, and when communities shape their own pathways to prosperity, climate solutions and community resilience follow.
As countries begin implementing the decisions from Belém, the world would do well to look to these and other Equator Prize winners, not only as beneficiaries of climate commitments, but as architects of the solutions we urgently need now.
Join the celebration
The Equator Prize 2025 ceremony on 11 December will bring these powerful stories to a global audience. Join us online to celebrate the leaders who are charting the course toward a just, inclusive, and nature-positive future. Register HERE to watch the Equator Prize Ceremony at 9:00 am EST on Thursday 11 December on the Equator Initiative’s website.
To learn more about the winners and explore their stories, please visit www.equatorinitiative.org and follow the Equator Initiative across social media on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or X.
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