Long before environmental protection became a global effort, Indigenous Peoples, local and coastal communities already cared for the Earth. Whether by the ocean or deep in the forests, their ways of life have always been shaped by a deep connection to their territories, which they have defended for generations.

Across regions, those communities have been fighting to protect their homes, lives and livelihoods from industries plundering nature for profits, such as illegal gold mining in the Amazon and nickel mining in Indonesia, industrial fishmeal and fish-oil plants draining coastal waters in Senegal and industrial megaprojects threatening coastal livelihoods in Thailand. No matter the geography, a common reality emerges: those least responsible for the crisis are on the frontlines of confronting it. In doing so, they are not only protecting their territories, but safeguarding the ecosystems that sustain life on Earth, often at great personal risk. 

From the Amazon to the Congo Basin to Thailand, meet five Earth Defenders whose stories of resistance and close relationship with their homes and community serve as inspiration to join the movement to protect the planet. 

Valentin Engobo, Leader of the village of Lokolama in the Congo Basin

Meet Valentin Engobo, an Indigenous leader in the community of Lokolama, deep within the equatorial forests of the Congo Basin in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is a territory shaped by generations of Indigenous knowledge, where the Tshwa people have long lived in close relationship with the forest and its peatlands. A representative of his people and president of the Association of Pygmy Peasants of Lokolama (APPL), Valentin has dedicated his life to defending these lands. Yet, as he describes, “we are still seen as ‘sub-citizens,’ obstacles to development, shadows in the trees,” while decisions about their territories continue to be made without them.

Lokolama sits at the heart of one of the world’s largest tropical peatland complexes, a vast carbon sink storing the equivalent of three years of global emissions. Working alongside scientists, Valentin and his community helped bring global attention to this ecosystem and its importance for the climate. “It is not only our culture that is under threat. It is also your future,” he warns. Through community-led forest management, advocacy and international action – including challenging harmful policies imposed on their lands – he continues a struggle rooted in generations of resistance, defending both the rights of his people and ecosystems that are critical to the future of the planet.

Diaba Diop, Leader of artisanal fishing communities in Senegal

Diaba Diop embodies the resilience of fishing communities in Senegal. As head of the Network of Artisanal Fisherwomen in Senegal (REFEPAS), she represents thousands of women processors, fishmongers and small-scale traders, fighting for recognition of their work and their role in the local economy and food security.

She also advocates for the social and professional rights of women in the sector, pushing for professional identification, better organisation and access to social protection. Her work seeks to move these workers out of informality and ensure dignity, security and institutional recognition.

A powerful ocean defender, Diaba Diop promotes sustainable fisheries and warns of the impacts of overexploitation. She stands on the front line against industrial fishing vessels that deplete fish stocks and threaten her community’s livelihoods, calling for fairer practices. She also mobilises against fishmeal and fish oil factories that divert fish from local consumption to animal feed abroad, undermining women’s incomes and local food security. Together with the women she represents, Diaba continues to defend both marine resources and the future of her community.

Maria Socorro, Community Leader from the Médio Juruá region, Brazilian Amazon

“The Amazon is my home, my country, where I live happily,” says Maria Socorro, a ribeirinha (riverside community member) born and raised between the forest and the river. She has lived for over 40 years in the Roque community, in the Médio Juruá region in the Amazon, building her life in close relationship with the forest, working with the collection of andiroba seeds, a practice rooted in both livelihood and care for the territory. “This tree was already here when I arrived,” she says, pointing to one of the andiroba trees she has harvested for years. “It has given so much”. 

Each year, during the harvest season, Maria Socorro and other women from the community gather in the forest, often collecting more than 50 cans of seeds together. The work is collective, marked not only by effort but by moments of joy – “we sing, we laugh, we go together,” she recalls – and by a deep understanding of the forest’s rhythms. The seeds are used to produce oil for medicines, soap and cosmetics, generating income that sustains families throughout the year. For Maria Socorro, protecting the forest is inseparable from survival: “If you cut it down, it’s over. The forest ends, and so does our production.”

Her story is part of a broader transformation in the Médio Juruá region, where communities have organised over the years to defend their territories and build sustainable economies rooted in standing forests. Today, Maria Socorro is one of many women whose daily work helps sustain this model – one that keeps the forest alive while securing dignified livelihoods.

Khairiyah Rahmanyah, “Daughter of the Chana Sea” and youth activist from Chana, Thailand

Khairiyah Rahmanyah rose to national prominence when she took her village’s fight from the shores of Chana to the gates of Government House in Bangkok. A fisherman’s daughter from a small village in the Chana district, she has dedicated her young adulthood to protecting her seaside hometown from a massive industrial megaproject. This development threatens to transform over 26 square kilometres of pristine coastline into a hub for heavy industry and petrochemical plants, a move Khairiyah warns would destroy the marine ecosystems and the traditional livelihoods of her community.

Determined to save her home, Khairiyah gained national attention after traveling to Bangkok to petition the Prime Minister and camping out in front of government buildings to demand transparent public hearings. The event gained mass media and social media attention and trended on Thai Twitter as #SAVECHANA. Despite facing surveillance and intimidation, she continued to mobilise her community and joined Greenpeace during the Ocean Justice ship tour in 2024. She continues to challenge the narrative that GDP growth from industrial estates outweighs the declining quality of life seen in other industrial hubs. Currently, Khairiyah, the Chana community in Songkhla province, and Greenpeace are calling for coastal communities to have the right to determine the direction of development in their own homelands.

Her advocacy is rooted in a deep connection to the ocean, where she fights to ensure that future generations can still see dolphins from their doorsteps, grow in a healthy environment and maintain the cultural heritage of Thailand’s coastal villages.

Rifka Kmesrar, Indigenous youth leader from West Papua, Indonesia

From Indonesia, meet Rifka Kmesrar, an Indigenous youth leader from Haha Village, in the Seremuk Subdistrict of South Sorong Regency, in West Papua. This is a region of dense tropical forests and rich biodiversity, where Indigenous communities have long depended on their ancestral lands and natural resources for their livelihoods, culture and identity. As a young leader of the Tival Community, Rifka represents a new generation that has grown up witnessing the ongoing struggle of their parents to defend their territories from external pressures. “We have seen our parents fight for generations,” she says, “and we feel it is our responsibility to continue that work.”

Together with other Indigenous youth, Rifka is working to protect both her community’s culture and its food systems, ensuring that traditional knowledge and local resources are not displaced by logging, palm oil expansion and other threats. Their efforts include organising collectively, strengthening cultural practices and mapping the boundaries of their customary territories to prevent land grabbing and secure formal recognition. In a context where forests are increasingly threatened, her leadership reflects a broader movement of Indigenous youth rising to defend their lands, safeguard their future and keep their connection to the territory alive.

Acting locally for global Impact

These stories are not isolated. Research shows that while Indigenous Peoples make up 6% of the global population, they manage over 25% of the world’s land surface and are the primary stewards of some of the most biodiverse and intact ecosystems on Earth. Their territories regulate the climate, support livelihoods and sustain ecosystems far beyond their boundaries. Still, their leadership is too often overlooked in decisions about conservation and climate action.

2026 is a decisive year for nature. Governments are now under growing pressure to turn global commitments into real action, including the pledge made under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework to protect at least 30% of the planet by 2030. What happens next will determine not just how much of the planet is protected, but how that protection is defined, and who it serves.

Ensuring that communities have the recognition, rights and direct access to resources they need is key to translating global promises into lasting protection on land and in the water.

Jaqueline Sordi is the Communications and Engagement Lead for the Tropical Forests campaign at Greenpeace International.

The US-Israel war on Iran is shattering lives across Iran and the wider region. Civilians pay first and hardest — through fear, displacement, destroyed infrastructure, and deepening environmental harm. Greenpeace calls for an immediate end to the violence and a return to diplomacy. As we push for that, we also need to understand the systems that keep the conflict running.

Bottled water. Baby formula. Food. Shoes. Lipstick. The cost of everyday goods is spiking as a result of the conflict in Iran. This isn’t a coincidence; it’s oil. It’s plastic. 

When war disrupts oil, it doesn’t just hit us at the pump. It hits the grocery aisle, the pharmacy, and the toy store. Because nearly everything we buy, from shampoo to strawberries, is made from petrochemicals, wrapped in plastic, or both. 

The crisis in Iran reveals a painful truth: our supply chain has a plastics problem, and we’ll keep paying for it until we break free.

Plastics run on oil

Ninety-nine percent of plastic is made from fossil fuels. Crude oil is refined into petrochemicals like naphtha, cracked into ethylene and propylene, and polymerised into the resins that become the bottle in your hand, the bag carrying your chips, and the fabric in your shirt. Plastic isn’t just dependent on oil. Plastic is oil. 

Every bottle, bag, and sneaker runs on the same supply chain and the same geopolitical tensions.

The Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway through which one-fifth of the world’s oil and gas flows, according to IEA, is the passageway for reported US $20 to US $25 billion worth of petrochemical products every year. When that flow is disrupted, the building blocks of plastic become scarce. Prices climb. And supply chains shudder.

Prices for plastic resins have already surged by more than 30% in the past month.

Higher plastic costs ripple quickly through to consumers, compounding across every element of a product, from the materials inside to the packaging wrapped around it.

Already, the beauty industry is warning of price increases, and toymakers are sounding the alarm about Christmas as they reportedly face low-density polyethylene price hikes of up to 55%. The burden lands, as it always does, on the people who can least afford it.

Fossil fuel and petrochemical companies profit from war and price shocks

While people absorb the shock, fossil fuel and petrochemical industry profits are soaring. U.S. oil producers could see an additional US $63 billion in profit as crude oil climbs past US $100 a barrel, according to energy research company Rystad. Russia’s oil income doubled to US $9 billion in April alone, according to Reuters calculations. According to the Financial Times, TotalEnergies made more than US $1 billion in profit after buying up large quantities of oil as the conflict began — their profits are soaring even as the conflict has taken 15% of its operations offline. Oil executives have pocketed US $1.4 billion selling stock amid the conflict, according to an analysis of insider-transaction disclosures from analytics firm VerityData.

When the ceasefire was announced, Shell, BP, and TotalEnergies stocks reportedly fell between 6% and 8% in a single day — the EU region’s biggest one-day fall all year. 

We’ve been here before. In 2022, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine disrupted energy markets, Big Oil reportedly recorded its biggest year in history — more than doubling its profits. 

Geopolitical crisis has become a profit mechanism for an industry that reportedly spends hundreds of millions lobbying to keep us dependent on it. Our governments aren’t just complicit, they are locking us in — funneling billions into the fossil fuel industry, which pours it right back into their campaigns. 

No one should profit off war. But again and again, fossil fuel interests turn crisis into opportunity, pushing deregulation and deepening dependence while communities are left to live with the consequences.

Winners and losers: Which countries are most exposed to petrochemical disruption

The United States, Saudi Arabia, and Russia account for more than 40% of the world’s oil supply, and as the world’s largest producer, the US is positioned to gain the most. A point Donald Trump made sure to say out loud.

Europe, too, is being squeezed by rising feedstock prices. Most exposed, however, are Japan, South Korea, India, and much of Asia — nations heavily dependent on imported crude and petrochemical feedstocks. As much as 70% of Asia’s naphtha reportedly passed through the Strait of Hormuz last year. South Korea is so reliant on naphtha, a critical building block for plastics, that many refer to it as the “rice of the petrochemical industry.” Recognizing this vulnerability, President Lee Jae Myung has called for prioritizing a plastics-free economy alongside his calls for peace.

At the very bottom of the chain — everywhere, in every country — are the people, absorbing every ripple.

How reuse and renewable energy can build resilience

This is the third major shock in five years to tear through the fossil-fuelled supply chain: COVID, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and now this. Each crisis points to the same conclusion: a future less dependent on fossil fuels is not only better for the planet but also more stable, secure, and resilient to the disruptions we face today.

Every piece of plastic ties us to a volatile, extractive system — one that leaves us exposed to price shocks, pollution, and conflict. 

Just as renewables break our dependence on the fossil fuels that power our grid, reuse breaks our dependence on the oil that stocks our grocery aisles. Both provide supply chain stability, local resilience, and independence from whoever controls the chokepoint.

The barrier is not capability. It is political will and investment – both of which are currently being directed at an enormous scale in exactly the wrong direction.

Why a Global Plastics Treaty matters now more than ever 

With plastic production poised to become the single largest driver of growth in global oil demand, a binding Global Plastics Treaty that cuts plastic production would be a turning point, not just for oceans and public health, but for economic security, geopolitical stability, and the resilience of the systems we all depend on. 

As long as corporations keep us hooked on plastic, we remain chained to oil. And as long as we’re addicted to oil, we remain exposed to conflict, price shocks, and to the decisions made by whoever controls the supply.

We’ve paid for this system in prices, pollution, and war. We can stay locked in a cycle of crisis, or break free. Reuse systems, renewable energy, and local resilience aren’t a distant dream. They’re ready. And so are we.

Let’s end the age of plastic!

Ask world leaders to support Global Plastic Treaty so that we can finally turn off the tap and end the age of plastic.

Take action

Lindsey Jurca is a senior plastics campaigner from Greenpeace USA.

Berlin, Germany – Governments meeting at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue, including Türkiye as this year’s UN climate talks president, must use the global disruption in fossil fuel supplies from the war on Iran as an accelerator for a just transition away from fossil fuels.

Addressing delegates in Berlin on Tuesday, Murat Kurum, Minister of Environment, Urbanisation and Climate Change and COP31 President Designate, recognised the current crisis has shown that fossil fuels do not guarantee energy security.

Emel Türker Alpay, Climate and Energy Campaigner at Greenpeace Türkiye said:

“Minister Kurum is 100% correct: dependency on oil and gas is a structural liability and the time has come to phase them out. As COP president, it’s mission critical for Türkiye to help operationalise and accelerate the implementation of the just transition away from fossil fuels at COP31. 

“Fossil fuel dependence is destabilising the climate and exposing countries to volatile global markets, conflict and disruption. But a just transition is the opportunity to transform energy, transport, industrial and other systems so they are more secure and affordable.

“As COP31 host, Türkiye needs to lead from the front and demonstrate its commitment, starting with the cancellation of the coal-fired power plant project currently planned in Türkiye. The two additional units  to Afşin-Elbistan A Coal Power Plant is the only new coal power plant project in Türkiye and one of five projects in the OECD. Cancellation of these two additional units would also demonstrate Türkiye’s leadership in this process.”

Earlier, Greenpeace Germany activists used kayaks to protest against the use of fossil fuels, displaying a floating banner on the water at the Westhafen Event & Convention Center in Berlin that said: ‘BREAK FREE FROM FOSSIL FUELS’. The floating banner and surrounding kayaks formed the shape of the sun. The 17th Petersberg Climate Dialogue is an international ministerial meeting to help prepare for the annual UN climate talks.

Martin Kaiser, Executive Director at Greenpeace Germany said:

“German Chancellor Friedrich Merz faces a credibility gap at the Petersberg Climate Dialogue. While he has the opportunity to lead Europe toward a nature-compatible transition in energy and mobility, his government’s domestic actions – such as backtracking on the combustion engine ban, blocking speed limits and maintaining Germany’s reliance on fossil fuel heating – contradict these goals.

“Despite rising fuel prices and the urgent need to break free from dependencies on autocratic leaders, Germany continues to stall on renewables. To succeed, the summit must strengthen international alliances focused on the economic advantages of wind and solar, ensuring a definitive shift away from fossil fuels.”

ENDS

Photos available in the Greenpeace Media Library

Contact:

Aaron Gray-Block, Greenpeace International, Climate Politics Communications Manager, aaron.gray-block@greenpeace.org

Greenpeace International Press Desk, +31 (0)20 718 2470 (available 24 hours), pressdesk.int@greenpeace.org

I’m deeply familiar with activist burnout. After five  years working as an environmental journalist in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil, I had reached a point of mental and emotional exhaustion. Along my recovery journey, which took me many years, I’ve finally learned the basics: caring for myself is more important than the mission I’ve embraced. More important? Yes. Because if we allow ourselves to become completely broken, we can no longer be the activists we want to be in the first place. 

The world seems to be upside down many times a month – or even, a week or, a day! Directly and indirectly, we are all being impacted by environmental destruction, and human rights abuses. 

If you are one of those who dare to act, then it has not been easy for you – having to carry on while facing so many threats at the same time requires another set of skills, ones that will enable us to care for our mental health while we do our best for the world we love.

Here’s 9 ways I was able to recover and prevent future burnout:

1. Learn from ancestral wisdom

Learning from Indigenous Peoples helped me to go deeper in my connection with nature, to expand my worldview, and to learn more about what is important for us to do to protect the Earth.

2. Participate in collective experiences with like-minded people

I joined workshops and ceremonies with other activists, where we could talk openly about how we were feeling, our vision for a better future and strategies to get there. Sharing with like minded groups was nurturing and helped put us back on track with an increased sense of hope and joy.

3. Get support from healers, coaches and therapists

The recovery was a journey of self-discovery where I learned a lot about boundaries, recognising when my body tells me to take a deep breath and to relax my mind, so I could be in touch again with the beautiful possibility of reinventing myself to never stop being an activist – here I am.

4. Establish a rhythm of studying 

I studied things that helped me to find ways of action focused on love, education and inspiration, like Deep Ecology, The Work that Reconnects, Systems Thinking, Non-Violent Communication, Delicate Activism and more.

5. Ask for advice from experienced people 

I started sharing my plans, achievements and fears with teachers that had spent their entire lives as activists: Stephan Harding, Joanna Macy, Satish Kumar, Antonio Donato Nobre, and more. Stephan would tell me: “Remember to balance emotion and intuition with thinking and logic in your work.” Joanna’s advice: “Are you in distress? Use it!” taught me to see this emotion as part of my power to change things. Satish’s words : “Create your own way”, emboldened me to trust my creativity to find new ways of being an environmentalist while Antonio’s: “You don’t have to live in the Amazon to protect it” was liberating.

6. Talk with activists friends

It’s important to have people around you who could truly understand each other’s experience. When things got hard or great again, we weren’t alone.

7. Take care of my health in systemic ways

Body, mind, emotions, soul – I became more attentive to my health as a whole. I eat well, meditate, have a therapist, spiritual practice and exercise.

8. Make nature my ally

Being in nature is something that has helped me countless times to reorganise myself and my work, bringing me back over and over again to a state of peace, relaxation, and wellbeing.

9. Learn from elders to never stop dreaming

The vision for a better future, the reality we know is possible – one of peace and justice for all is a great motivation to continue on the path of our active hope, even if a burnout meets us along the way.

Here are some other resources:

• Coping with climate grief: advice from an environmental psychologist
• Climate anxiety: 21 resources to energise you into action
• The ties that bind us, and move us forward

Take care. Save this post. 

Your activism needs you well.

Karina Miotto is a Content Editor with Greenpeace International.