Ceibo Alliance is an organization that brings together the Siona, A’i Kofan, Siekopai, and Waorani Indigenous nations in the Ecuadorian Amazon to work together to defend their territory and cultural autonomy while building solutions-based alternatives to rainforest destruction.
RAN’s ongoing solidarity with the Ceibo Alliance and its partner organization, Amazon Frontlines, through our Community Action Grants has supported the Alliance in expanding their territorial defense strategies through community-based monitoring, mapping, and governance efforts. This has contributed to protecting nearly 960,000 hectares of Amazon rainforest, while also providing leadership development opportunities for the Alliance’s members. RAN also provided much-needed support for the Alliance’s political advocacy, securing a historic legal victory that lays the groundwork for granting Indigenous land titles to 3.5 million hectares of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Additionally, CAG contributed to the expansion of community-led education models that balance Western technical subjects with the reintegration of Indigenous languages, worldviews, and ways of learning.
Key Ceibo Alliance initiatives and outcomes supported by CAG include:
Indigenous Communications School: Indigenous voices are often marginalized in public forums and media, both regionally and globally. Drawing on several years of experience training Indigenous communicators, Ceibo Alliance runs an innovative Indigenous Communications School to empower Indigenous youth in producing and sharing multimedia stories that highlight their experiences and the resilience of their communities in protecting the Amazon. Co-led by experienced Indigenous communicators from the Ceibo Alliance, who were previously trained under the program, the school equips Indigenous youth (60% of whom are women) from the Upper Amazon with skills in photography, video-making, and digital media.
Indigenous Storytelling Lab: Serving as a production hub for Indigenous-made films and media content and led by Ceibo’s experienced storytellers, the Lab not only produces media but also trains other Indigenous communicators at the Communications School in editing and production. In 2024, the Lab produced over 30 multimedia projects, including documentaries, photo essays, and videos, which were distributed through Ceibo’s social media channels. With a goal of producing 50 projects annually, this initiative aims to amplify Indigenous visions and solutions, broadening their collective audience on a wider, international scale.
Regional Land Defense School: Launched in June 2023, the Land Defense School provided an 18-month training program for Indigenous land patrol members from 24 communities representing six Indigenous nations in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Building on nearly a decade of territorial defense work, the school fosters essential knowledge exchange on defense strategies among Ceibo Alliance’s original four nations and two new partner nations, the Shuar and Kichwa, with plans to expand to more communities and nations in the future. The program aims to boost the territorial monitoring, mapping, rights, and governance skills of the engaged land patrols, empowering them to develop and replicate effective forest protection strategies across their lands. Together, these territories encompass nearly 960,000 hectares of rainforest, sequestering approximately 570 million metric tons of carbon, making the program vital for both the immediate and long-term protection of this extensive rainforest territory.
The work of the Ceibo Alliance shows that despite the attempts of the Ecuadorian and international governments and elites to nullify the historic achievements of the country’s Indigenous movements by continuing to extract the Amazon, there is strength in a united alliance to protect the Amazon and defend traditional Indigenous territories.
Uplifting Indigenous visions and solutions in Ecuador
