Thirteen years ago today, Ecuadorian Indigenous people and campesinos made climate justice history when they won a $9.5 billion judgment against oil giant Chevron.

It was a groundbreaking victory that affected communities successfully took on an oil company and won a judgment of this size. Chevron was found guilty in the court of its choosing and based largely on its own evidence for having deliberately discharged over 16 billion gallons of toxic waste into the Amazon, leaving behind hundreds of waste pits adding up to an area the size of Manhattan. At least 30,000 Ecuadorians were affected (and many more since then), and it is widely regarded as one of the worst oil-related environmental disasters in history.

“Today is a bittersweet day for us. Our historic legal victory is not enough if we don’t get the justice we urgently need and deserve,” said Donald Moncayo, President of UDAPT. "This company destroyed the Amazon, polluted the people, went to trial, and was found guilty, but it still hasn’t cleaned up or paid up. We need the world to stand with us, to make sure Chevron is not above the law – in Ecuador, or anywhere where this company operates.”