Hayley Stuart

Hayley Stuart serves as Lead Coordinator of the Rivers for Climate Coalition while working with Rios to Rivers since 2022. Her engagement in river advocacy dates to 2016, sparked by her background as a whitewater kayaker who has instructed, competed, and traveled globally. She studied abroad in Bolivia in 2014, where she began collaborating with indigenous communities opposing hydroelectric dam proposals, leading to expeditions, educational programs in rafting and kayaking, and documentary filmmaking. Stuart helped establish programs in Bolivia and Chile through Rios to Rivers and participates in the US-based Paddle Tribal Waters initiative with the Klamath tribes. She coordinates global efforts to protect free-flowing rivers, advocates at the United Nations and COP conferences with indigenous youth, and focuses on hydropower impacts including methane emissions and the benefits of dam removal, as seen with the Klamath River. Additional roles include ambassador for Rivers for Change and founder of the volunteer organization River Allies Bolivia. Stuart is fluent in Spanish, conversational in Portuguese, and has studied French, which she nearly minored in during college. She delivered a TEDx talk in 2017.