Rafaela Iturralde

Rafaela Iturralde is an Ecuadorian advocate of Indigenous Rights and the Rights of Nature. She has been involved in the Rights of Nature movement for almost a decade mostly through the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature (GARN)—particularly in their International Rights of Nature tribunals in Paris, Bonn, and NY—as well as helping organize the International Rights of Nature Symposium to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the Rights of Nature in Ecuador. She holds a B.A. in Environmental Studies and International Affairs from Skidmore College in NY. In 2017, Rafa studied abroad in Aotearoa/New Zealand where she learned and researched more about the Voice of Nature and the rights of the Whanganui River. Today, she lives in New York City where she, along with her peers, founded the GARN Youth Hub and continues to be part of the movement by also serving as the GARN Global Hub coordinator. From 2019-2022 Rafa was the Latin America regional organizer for Waterkeeper Alliance, helping assist over 40 grassroots organizations throughout the region, from Tijuana to the Chilean Patagonia. Most recently, in 2022 she joined the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance as the global partnerships coordinator to help advance the Indigenous-led vision to protect 86 million acres in the sacred headwaters bioregion of the Amazon Basin.