Belén is a specialist in climate change and forests and holds a Master’s in Ecology. She leads implementation programs based on clean energy, ecotourism, bioeconomy, protection and conservation of tropical forests, legal actions to defend collective rights and the rights of nature as well as maternal and child health.

Belén has contributed to the victories for the protection of tropical forests and Indigenous territorial rights in the Amazon of Ecuador and Peru. She is passionate about a just, post-extractive transition that leads to a transition in favour of life. Currently, she is the director of the Pachamama Foundation, which was created to protect the Amazon and promote the rights and livelihoods of Indigenous peoples. She is president of the Terra Mater Association, the Secretary General of the Sacred Headwaters Initiative and a co-founder of Naku Healing Center.