Just months before the PreCOP will take place in Costa Rica, Latin American youth unifies their fight to make their voices heard. To do so, 45 young leaders from indigenous peoples and forest communities attended the “Latin American Youth Meeting: Identity, Climate and Territory” in Gunayala, Panamá, July 5-8.
The activity had the participation of young people from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Brazil and Ecuador. They belong to the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB), the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA).
The goal is to energize a space of dialogue and experience exchange among young leaders to strengthen their territorial identity, leadership capacities, regional organization and to prepare a solid youth platform against climate change.
“Climate change is affecting us all. As young people, we want folk and leaders to see us as agents of change because we too are worried about the situation of our forests. We are not just spectators” expressed Yanisbeth González, a representative of women in the Gunayala territory.
The participants discussed from their perspective and build proposals around three themes: identity, culture and territory; organization, alliances and networks; climate policy agenda, spokesman ship and communication.
“We have very big challenges, one of them is to incorporate ourselves in the management of resources and the community organization of our territories. We want to take advantage of this space to socialize with other young people about the importance of taking action before the different adversities menacing our lands” added González, who is a part of the Gunayala Youth Congress.
“We live in a time with sharpened climate change impacts and threats to the ways of life of indigenous peoples. In this frame, we are going to develop three moments during the Meeting: reflection about community identity – who am I? – and, from that perspective of “being a part of”, to determine our political agenda in the face of COP, in the global level – which is the position as young people before a subject that is being debated internationally and how we are going to communicate it”, said Marcial López, Director of the AMPB Mesoamerican Leadership School.
The Latin American Youth Meeting is a joint effort of Weaving Ties (an Aldea Foundation project), the AMPB Mesoamerican Leadership School, the AMPB and the Guna General Congress.Latin American Youth will join their voices for identity, climate and territory.
