Manifesto Letter from Alianza Ceibo
September 23, 2026
From the territories of the Ecuadorian, Colombian, and Peruvian Amazon
Today our organization, Alianza Ceibo, is receiving worldwide recognition for our struggle in defense of our territories and our ancestral cultures. This recognition is the “Gulbenkian Prize for Humanity.» We are very happy about this recognition, as it will strengthen our fight from within our territories. We also see this as a fitting moment to share more of our story, and to communicate how we see the situation being lived in our region and in the world, and in doing so, perhaps plant a few seeds of resistance in the imagination and hearts of those who read our simple words.
More than 10 years ago, among young dreamers and wise elders, both men and women, from the A’i Cofán, Siona, Siekopai, and Waorani peoples, we saw that threats from the Western world neared day by day, growing stronger and stronger, and that it was worth uniting so we could have more strength and clarity to protect our territories and cultures. Many told us it wouldn’t be possible. That it’s difficult to organize across different cultures and communities. «Why fight against the oil companies and the miners? The global economic and political system is too strong,» they told us.
Since then, we have walked with strength through our territories, weaving dreams of resistance and dignity. We have built rainwater systems so that our families, who live downriver from the oil companies, can have clean water. We have built solar energy systems in the most remote communities to help them have light during the dark nights of the jungle. We have won many battles against the oil companies and miners, protecting the rivers and forests of our Amazon. We have built new education systems for our children so they can strengthen their roots, their identity, and their connection to our territories. And now we are dreaming even bigger for our peoples.
But we are also facing a very difficult moment in the Amazon and in the world. Even though it has been scientifically proven that the burning of oil is driving a climate crisis, the oil industry continues with a tireless appetite to open new wells deep within our forests. There is also a new “gold rush,» and miners are poisoning our rivers with mercury. As Indigenous defenders, we face more threats than ever. In our countries, we see political authoritarianism gaining more strength. And in the world, we see that they are inventing dangerous new technologies, what is called artificial intelligence. It seems they think technology can save humanity, when in reality that isn’t so; rather, that same technology puts us in even greater danger.
Why is all of this happening?
We in Alianza Ceibo believe that the root of all these problems, these crises, is because humans have become disconnected from our mother, the only mother who gives us life: Mother Earth. Industrial and now post-industrial civilizations decided to treat Mother Earth as a massive supply depot, a lifeless container from which to extract without care or limits. This has left humans walking without spirituality, without our feet on the ground — disoriented, lost, without humility, without wisdom, without respect, without gratitude to our mother for the water that gives us life, the air we breathe, the land that feeds us.
For us Indigenous peoples, rivers and territories are an essential part of our life: there we fish, we bathe, and we drink their water. That’s why we don’t want the indiscriminate destruction of forests and animals, because the territory is our home, and the life that inhabits it are our relations. We strive to respect and care for what we consume. Consumption is part of the cycle of life, not an isolated end in itself. This outlook is the inheritance of our ancestors; this is how we learned, and this is how we must continue.
That’s why we believe our story also has something worth sharing with the world. What we have built was not born from outside, it came from our own territories, from our own people, in collaboration with those who walk alongside us, knowing how to listen, knowing how to walk beside us, knowing how to be a true companion. And we want to keep walking this long road; we still have much to learn, but this time has shown us that when communities organize and peoples unite, we are more effective in defending our home, and in this way we can offer real solutions.
Perhaps that is the most important lesson we can share: that the answer may also lie in finding one another again, coming together, and walking as one. In putting our feet back on the earth. While the system that endangers the earth and humanity wants to surround us more and more with oil wells and mining concessions, and corner us further into screens and digital illusions, we believe it’s necessary to spend more time in person; talking, building together with our own hands, walking, learning, knowing, and caring for our territories. We don’t have all the answers, but we continue searching and building collectively, with our peoples leading the way. From our territories, we want to continue planting this seed of unity — not only as part of our struggle, but also as a way of building a more dignified future for the whole world.
