Indigenous communities are demanding that their environmental concerns be heard. Ecuador’s indigenous community federations finally got what they were fighting for. After two weeks of protests that led President Lenín Moreno in October to temporarily relocate the country’s government outside Quito, Moreno reversed his decision to scrap fuel subsidies. But this came at a huge cost: By the time the opposing parties negotiated, five people had been killed while protesters barricaded roads and ransacked government buildings. The result reflects the increasing clout of indigenous movements across Latin America — clout that’s being used to fight for the environment. A peak in the Amazon rainforest fires this year coincided with terrifying scientific studies from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warning that global warming may have already reached a tipping point. From Peru to Ecuador and beyond, indigenous communities in Latin America are gaining momentum in combating policies and projects they fear could cause even more environmental damage. Their battles — and, increasingly, successes — are forcing governments and companies to pay attention in the face of threats of more organized action. Even the Vatican is taking note. | 
