Leila Salazar-López

Leila (she/ella/ela) is a mother, a proud Chicana-Latina woman, and a passionate defender of Mother Earth, the Amazon, Indigenous rights, and climate justice. Since 2015 she has served as the Executive Director of Amazon Watch, leading the organization in its work to protect and defend the Amazon rainforest and climate in solidarity with Indigenous peoples.
For nearly 30 years Leila has worked to defend the world’s rainforests, human rights, and climate through international solidarity and advocacy campaigns at Amazon Watch, Global Exchange, and Rainforest Action Network, where she joined the Board of Directors in 2023. She is also a founding steering committee member of the Amazonia for Life: Protect 80% by 2025 Initiative, a Daughters for Earth Wise Daughters Councilmember, a Latin America Advisor for the Global Fund for Women, and a Greenpeace Voting Member.
Leila has been recognized as one of the “100 Most Committed Latinos to Climate Action” in 2023 and 2024 by Sachamama, and as one of “17 Bay Area Environmentalists Making a Difference” in 2019 by Make it Better Media. She is a 1998 graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara. Leila lives in San Francisco, CA (Ohlone Territory) with her husband and two young daughters.