At the outset of 2025, one of the world's most significant climate victories hangs in the balance.

Over a year and a half ago, the people of Ecuador overwhelmingly voted to keep one of its largest oil reserves in the ground. The historic first will keep millions of barrels of crude oil beneath Yasuní National Park – one the most biodiverse places on the planet and home to the country's last Indigenous peoples living in isolation.

It was a vote for hope, for the future, and for the protection of biodiversity and Indigenous rights.

It sets an important precedent for people-powered referendums that can be replicated worldwide. This victory was the result of decades of campaigning by Indigenous peoples and civil society and inspired a major surge in the youth vote, who went to the ballot box in hopes of having a livable planet for themselves and future generations.

But the Ecuadorian government continues to drag its feet, undermining the will of voters, jeopardizing the country's democratic process, and putting isolated Indigenous peoples and our planet in peril.