Juan Auz is the Co-Founder of Terra Mater and former Executive Director of Fundación Pachamama, two organisations that defend the rights of indigenous peoples in the Ecuadorian Amazon and protect the remaining ecosystems of indigenous territories.
After a successful stay at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) as an Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, he joined the Centre for Fundamental Rights at the Hertie School as a PhD candidate. He has worked as a political and legal advisor for national and regional indigenous organisations and is a member of CIVICUS, the World Commission on Environmental Law at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), as well as the European Society of International Law. He received his Bachelor of Laws from Universidad de las Americas in Quito and his Master of Laws in Global Environment and Climate Change Law from the University of Edinburgh.