Guardians Worldwide

Living Territories

Thriving Forests

An alliance of territorial communities protecting 500,00 hectares of endangered primary forest across seven countries

Screenshot_2023-01-26_at_10_edited_edite

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

We secure international funding and invest it in grassroots evidenced-based climate action.

We specialise in:

Territorial governance
Large-scale reforestation & protection of primary forests
Indigenous, Afro-descendent and rural led programmes
Transformational education and research

TERRITORIAL

We are an alliance of Indigenous, Afro-descendent and rural territorial communities in Brazil, Chile , Kenya, Nigeria, Portugal and Philippines

FOREST

Together, we are responsible for the protection of almost 500,000 hectares of native forest, including highly endangered ecosystems such as the African Montane rainforest, Atlantic rainforest, Celtic rainforest, Andean temperate rainforest, African Guinea forest and Brazilian mangrove.

GOVERNANCE

We facilitate local capacity building, coaching, representation and advocacy to advance inclusive sovereignty. We are devoted to transformational learning in the areas of land and water guardianship, climate action and gender rights.

Screenshot 2026-02-07 at 14.09_edited.pn

Screenshot 2026-02-06 at 13.45_edited.jp

Screenshot 2026-02-06 at 13.39_edited.jp

Screenshot 2025-02-18 190849_edited_edit

Pietra Martin-Handfest

Youth Engagement (Intern)

Pietra is a youth activist, founder and director of Coletivo Mangrovie, based in Italy.

Leonard Mindore

Regional partner, Kenya

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

Dr Nicolas Salazar Sutil

Executive Director

Nicolas 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

PHOTO-2025-02-04-14-28-06 (1)_edited_edi

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.

Screenshot 2024-08-06 161102_edited_edit

Lucimar Prata

Legal Officer

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

Screenshot 2025-03-19 142815_edited_edit

Dr Maria Rovisco

Board of Trustees

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

PHOTO-2024-12-16-17-55-10 (1)_edited_edi

Debora Lacerda

Legal Officer

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

Screenshot 2025-03-19 142252_edited_edit

Cynthia Achieng

Legal Intern

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

Screenshot 2025-09-24 at 13_edited_edite

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.