This post is also available in: Español Français Portuguese (Brazil)
Ever since she was a child in the Bolivian highlands, Dayana Blanco has always felt deeply rooted to her land and the waters of Uru Uru Lake – a Ramsar site home to dozens of bird species.
But times have changed, and the lake’s waters have become tainted with pollution from mining, plastic waste and the climate crisis.
Blanco, an Indigenous Aymara woman, stepped in to safeguard her homeland.
Today, she is a co-founder of the Uru Uru Team, a grassroots initiative dedicated to restoring Uru Uru Lake, by tenets of Aymara culture like Suma Qamaña – living well and in harmony with the planet.
“Suma Qamaña is something we need to recover in this epoch, where hazardous climate challenges seek to disconnect us from these tenets of respect and care for Mother Earth,” Blanco explains.
To protect Uru Uru Lake and the livelihoods of seven Indigenous communities who depend on it, Blanco and her team are deploying their traditional knowledge to develop nature-based solutions.
They create rafts out of collected plastic materials and top them with native totora plants, which absorb heavy minerals from the water.
Blanco has also founded Warmi Shining, an organization focused on educating young, rural girls in the Bolivian highlands.
“The biggest challenge I face as an Indigenous woman is the expectation that a man should be the one leading solutions,” she says.
“This reflects the persistent gender inequality in Indigenous communities, where women are often confined to the role of caregivers.”
Blanco was a 2024 Wetland Restoration Steward for the Global Landscapes Forum. She has also served as part of the youth delegation for the World Forum for Democracy and received the 25 under 25 Young Climate Prize.
