Viviana Solange Yanez Gomez is the force behind 18,000 Trees in Ecuador, a country famous for its incredible biodiversity, cities, and landscapes.

Although Viviana grew up surrounded by nature–hiking mountains and forests, she simultaneously watched these ecosystems get damaged. That early experience sparked her path toward conservation.

After graduation, she worked in environmental education with children on Ecuador’s coast, learning firsthand the power of community-driven solutions.

Today, she leads 18000 Trees, 18000 Puembeños, a community-led urban reforestation project in Puembo, Quito. Their goal? To plant 18,000 trees–one for every resident–over six years, restoring ecosystems, creating habitats, reconnecting green spaces, and building climate resilience. By linking parks, ravines, and neighborhoods through bio-corridors, the project boosts biodiversity, cleans air and water, and even cools the city. And it’s all rooted in community work, youth and women engagement, and environmental education.

Viviana is also an alum of CoalitionWILD’s EXCELerator FLEX program. With applications for the 2026 EXCELerator program opening on October 27th and running through November 24th, we thought there couldn’t be a better time to sit down and chat with such an inspiring individual. For those who don’t know, the EXCELerator program is a six-month intensive program that trains emerging conservation leaders to turn ideas into real-world action projects.

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Gwen Bridge is a member of the Saddle Lake Cree Nation from Alberta, Canada, and works in consulting and support for Indigenous nations and their partners across North America.

In today’s episode, Gwen joins us to talk about Motion 107 – “Scaling Up Indigenous Leadership in the Protection of Biodiversity and the Sacred” and Motion 96 – “Setting Area-Based Targets on Scientific Evidence and Reversing Historic Injustices.” These motions, submitted by WILD.org and co-sponsors, continue the work that was initiated at the 12th World Wilderness Congress.

During the IUCN World Conservation Congress (WCC) in Abu Dhabi this October, member organizations will gather in person to debate and vote on these motions live on the floor of the Assembly.

If we’re serious today about building more equitable relationships and societies, about bringing different visions together, we need to start with respect–respect for people’s perspectives, cultures, and ways of being. This is where harmony begins. For many Indigenous peoples, that also means recognizing sacred sites and spirituality as essential dimensions of a meaningful life. These sacred relationships matter–not just for culture, but for conservation.

In this episode, Gwen talks about centering Indigenous leadership in protecting sacred species and spaces, weaving Indigenous knowledge and wisdom together with scientific conservation models, why protecting Half the planet is neither too ambitious nor unrealistic, and much more.

Motion Guides:

Motion 096: https://wild.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Motion-096-Marketing-Brief-3.pdf

Motion 107: https://wild.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Motion-107-Marketing-Brief.pdf

Before listening to the episode, please consider supporting our work at WILD.org, which allows us to dedicate time to creating these conversations for you.

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Vivian Delgado is Joma and Tiwa. Her mother’s people are from Taos territory, which spans Northern New Mexico into Colorado, where Vivian currently lives. She has an academic background in Indigenous studies and is doing extensive work with treaties and treaty-making. Vivian also serves as a consultant for the Texas Tribal Buffalo Project, where she works on regenerating American bison populations.

In today’s episode, Vivian joins us to talk about Motion 107 – “Scaling Up Indigenous Leadership in the Protection of Biodiversity and the Sacred” and Motion 96 – “Setting Area-Based Targets on Scientific Evidence and Reversing Historic Injustices.” These motions, submitted by WILD.org and co-sponsors, continue the work that was initiated at the 12th World Wilderness Congress. All were passed by over 700 delegates from around the world, and now, the proposed motions are heading to a vote in October at the 2025 International Union for Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress Members’ Assembly.

Indigenous knowledge and traditions have been diminished by laws and protections that primarily benefited non-Indigenous peoples. Indigenous leadership often comes late to the table, and navigating federal land bureaucracy can be complex. Efforts intended to protect land and species have frequently been reversed, leaving corruption and mismanagement in their wake. This has contributed to the biodiversity and climate crises we face today.

We need to slow down, halt the destruction of global natural environments, and recognize that Indigenous knowledge—passed down through generations—is central to addressing these challenges.

In this episode, Vivian shares why sacred sites and spiritual relationships with nature are essential to conservation, why centering Indigenous leadership is critical for protecting sacred species and spaces, why IUCN Members must align area-based conservation targets with the scientific call to protect at least 50% of the planet, and much more.

Motion Guides:

Motion 096: https://wild.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Motion-096-Marketing-Brief-3.pdf

Motion 107: https://wild.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Motion-107-Marketing-Brief.pdf

Before listening to the episode, please consider supporting our work at WILD.org, which allows us to dedicate time to creating these conversations for you.

Hosted on Ausha. See ausha.co/privacy-policy for more information.