The 2024 Earthshot Prize Winner - Amazon Sacred Headwater Alliance

The perpetual extraction of oil, timber and mining has compelled the Amazon to a tipping point of no return, this crisis not only destroys the 'spiritual connection' the inhabitants of the Amazon have with the forest but will indisputably destroy all life on earth. 

Because of the dependance all living species have on the Amazon the Amazon Headwaters Alliance has been formed. This  is a permanent protection of the 35 million hectares in the territories of 30 indigenous nations in Peru and Ecuador, the alliance intendeds to provide solution to this global emergency with the baseline of 'supporting the guardians of the rainforest', providing a 'strategy of collective wellbeing, alternative development and a nature-based economy'. 

The progress so far of this alliance have enabled communities in Ecuador more than 160,000 plants have been reforested in 40 communities, whilst the youth have been working on a 'Jaguar token'- using camera traps to measure the key indictor species to show that the forest is unscathed. One of the biggest achievements of the alliance thus far has been the solidarity of the 40 communities, supporting the peoples land rights and from defending territories. Finally, they have created a 'leadership school' where young people are learning to be more committed to the permanent stewardship of this ecosystem, encouraging the youth to respect the land, nature, indigenous people, with respect for society, with the ultimate future goal of forming an alliance with the world. 

The motivation behind this new formed alliance is inspiring to the rest of the world, unity is insufficient in today society, it's something that does not automatically exist it must be actively created and sustained if we stand a chance of saving the largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon.