In her blog, Nina Gualinga, a young woman leader from Sarayaku, a small Indigenous community in the Ecuadorian Amazon, writes about her experience during the United Nations COP20 Climate Conference where she demanded that world leaders respect her people’s ancestral rights. International communities must create climate policy that leaves fossil fuels in the ground. Indigenous peoples have persistently been on the forefront of the fight against environmental disaster and climate change. It is the obligation of governments, state parties, corporations, organizations, and other such institutions to make sure indigenous peoples are included in the decision-making process at COP20 and other high-level governmental meetings. Photo credit: Amazon Watch