Belén Páez is an Ecuadorian ecologist specializing in transitions toward regenerative economic models and the creation of innovative governance and financing mechanisms for bioregions and Indigenous territories in Latin America. As president of Fundación Pachamama and vice president of the Pachamama Alliance, she leads programs that integrate the bioeconomy, renewable energy, conservation, climate justice, and the rights of nature, with a focus on solutions based on ancestral wisdom and community action.
She serves on the board of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance, whose mission is to protect 35 million hectares of the Amazon in Ecuador and Peru alongside 30 Indigenous nationalities. She also serves on the Scientific Panel for the Amazon (SPA), on the board of Protection International (PI), and on the Ecuador REDD+ Roundtable. In 2024, she had the honor of representing the Amazon at St. James's Palace in London, where she met with His Majesty King Charles III and leaders of the Circular Bioeconomy Alliance, promoting a global transition toward nature-first economies.
With more than 30 years of experience in the Amazon, Belén has worked closely with Indigenous organizations to implement sustainable economic alternatives that strengthen community well-being and curb the expansion of extractive industries and deforestation in one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Her leadership has helped consolidate models of intercultural collaboration that demonstrate that conservation and development can advance hand in hand.
For her career, she has been recognized among the 100 Latinos most committed to climate action (2021 and 2024) and was the first woman to receive the WWF Thomas E. Lovejoy Award during COP16. In 2025, Hogar Magazine highlighted her as one of the 11 women transforming society through sustainability, and she was named an MIT Solve Climate Advisor. She was recognized as one of the five women for Sustainable Finance in Latin America and the Caribbean 2025 by GFLAC (Climate Finance Group for Latin America and the Caribbean), joining a global network of leaders promoting innovative solutions to the climate crisis and driving regenerative economies.