About Belinda
Defending women human rights advocates

Instagram: @Belicamarena
Location: Aguascalientes, Mexico

Belinda Guadalupe Camarena Vazquez was born in Atotonilco el Alto, Jalisco, and has lived in Aguascalientes for over 15 years. She is a teacher, critical lawyer and ecofeminist, with a passion for photography that captures the relationships between people and the land.

For Belinda, the land is part of everyday life — encompassing the places we live, the time we spend, and the connections we make. It includes our bodies, our neighbourhoods, and our relationships and emotions — all of which are territories to be defended.

“If my land could speak, it would say that I do my best to sustain and defend it within a system that exploits and objectifies it in many ways. It would say that I use teaching to create mutual care, so that through shared awareness, we can cohabit and co-defend our lands.”
Belinda Camarena

For her, climate justice is the commitment to transform our lives and surroundings. Acting daily to defend every land and every form of life — no matter how small — is where its power lies.

Belinda’s project

In Aguascalientes and across Mexico, women land defenders often face multiple forms of violence within advocacy spaces, including psychological abuse, harassment and exclusion. This violence is often perpetrated by male peers or those in positions of power. While women defenders are skilled at recognising harm to the land, it can be much harder to identify and address the harm directed at their own bodies.

Belinda’s project equips women human rights defenders with tools to recognise, confront and transform violence in mixed-gender resistance spaces. Central to the project is the development of a practical, collaborative guide — printed and digital — using legal, artistic and participatory methodologies to strengthen women’s self-defence, self-care and leadership.

Through a 10-session workshop, eight women defenders will work with the guide to explore power dynamics, reclaim their right to be protected, and build confidence in navigating legal systems using accessible and empathetic language. Participants will also create an artistic piece as a collective act of healing and resistance.

By creating non-hierarchical spaces and weaving a network of ecofeminist care, Belinda’s project ensures that women defenders are defended and supported — so no one is forced to abandon the struggle due to violence.

Learn more about the Amos Climate Fellowship →