Bright Lights, Green Sights: Leo Cerda, HAKHU Project

Our first speaker of the year, is Leo Cerda, a climate, energy and sustainability activist focusing on efforts to build a more just, sustainable society in Ecuador. Leo is Kichwa, from Tena in the Ecuadorian Amazon. At a young age he started working with local grassroots organizations creating awareness of the environmental and cultural impacts caused by the oil industry.

He studied International Relations and Political Science at the University San Francisco of Quito (USFQ) where he had the opportunity to study and travel to other countries including South Korea, and the United States. Upon finishing his degree, he returned to Tena to support communities in defense of their ancestral territories and to promote alternative development projects.

Leo is the Founder and Executive Director of the HAKHU Project, a young organization that supports community-based economic initiatives as a way to fight against exploitative oil, gas and mining development in the Ecuadorian Amazon. He firmly believes in a post-extractivist Ecuadorian society with self sustainable eco-communities.

Lunch will be served.  Please register so we have food and seating for all!

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