Guardians Worldwide

Living Territories

Thriving Forests

An alliance of territorial communities protecting 750,00 hectares of endangered primary forest across seven countries

Guardians Worldwide is a non-profit organisation registered in the United Kingdom, Portugal, Kenya and Nigeria, with fiscal sponsorship in the United States.

We are devoted to:

Territorial governance
Large-scale reforestation & protection of primary forests and river basins
Indigenous, Afro-descendent and rural stewardship programmes
Transformational online education, advocacy and research
Cultural programmes including: festivals, retreats, walks, pilgrimages and camps.

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Pietra Martin-Handfest

Youth Engagement (Intern)

Pietra is a Brazilian youth activist, founder and director of The Mangrove Collective, based in Ravenna, Italy.

Leonard Mindore

Territorial Alliance, Mau Forest, Kenya

Leonard is an Indigenous Ogiek community leader and land defender, director of Guardians Kenya and PRO-HOME , manager of Mau Forest Tree Rescue Hub.

Dr Nicolas Salazar Sutil

Executive Director

Nic is a Chilean and British environmentalist, land defender and minority rights advocate. He is the manager of Floresta Portelas, a 3 hectare forest reserve in Beira Baixa, Portugal.

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Dr Mercy Ette

Chair, Board of Trustees

Mercy is a British and Nigerian scholar specialising in media, conflict and women's rights. She is Senior Lecturer at the University of Newcastle.

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Lucimar Prata

Legal Officer

Lucimar is a human rights lawyer and campaigner. She is the cofounder of the law firm Prata & Lacerda Advogadas based in Manaus, Brazilian Amazon.

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Dr Maria Rovisco

Board of Trustees

Maria is a Portuguese social scientist based in the UK. She is Professor in Cultural Sociology at the University of Leeds .

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Debora Lacerda

Legal Officer

Deborah is a lawyer and human rights defender based in Manaus, Brazil, and co-founder of the Prata & Lacerda firm.

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Cynthia Achieng

Legal Intern

Cynthia is a human rights lawyer from Kenya, and student at Syracuse College of Law, US.

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Mihaela Cojocaru

Project Development and Fundraising

Mihaela is a fundraiser and researcher with roots in development studies, interested in rethinking systems. She is from the Moldova-Ukraine border, now based in Portugal.

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Kamilu Hassan Hamza

Director, GWW Africa

Kamilu is an oral historian of the Maguzawa people, educator and entrepeneur, founder and director of GWW-Africa, manager of Kano Tree Rescue Hub and Friends of Folgore Bush.

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Datu Lanelio Sangcoan

Territorial alliance, Mindanao, Philippines

Lanelio is a traditional leader of the Higa-Onon people of Mindanao's ancient forests (Philippines) and director of Tribes and Nature's Defenders.

Tawana Kariri Xoco Fulkaxo

Territorial alliance in Sergipe/Alagoas

Tawana is a leader of the Fulkaxo people, and a driving force behind Reserva Indigena Fulkaxo, a 550 hectare forest reserve in Alagoas (Brazil).

Bob Jacques

Board of trustees, Guardians UK

Bob is a soil scientist, former Researcher at the University of Aberystwyth and Guardian of Pencoedtop/ Pen-y-Gaer, a 9 hectare regenerative woodland in Ceredigion, Wales.

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Lee Walther

Director, Guardians UK

Lee is a ranger and guardian of Old Beard's Wood a 4-acre native woodland in South Downs National Park, West Sussex.

Alex Meliñir

Territorial alliance, Quinquen, Chile

Alex is an Indigenous leader of the historic autonomous Pewenche territory of Quinquén, stewards of 9,000 hectares of araucaria temperate rainforest in Araucanía Region, Chile.