Climate Justice Cultivators: Strengthening Community Land and Resource Rights

Transcript

[Animated text appears on screen throughout the video, in sync with the narration delivered by a diversity of voices. Footage and photographs of people who represent the different communities being described are interspersed.]

NARRATOR: Who are Afro-descendant peoples? Across Latin America and the Caribbean, more than 150 million people trace their roots to enslaved Africans. Today, almost one-quarter of the region’s population identify as Afro-descendant.

[A quick succession of people speak to camera in Spanish and Portuguese.]

LEIDY TATIANA RAMOS ANGOLA (in Spanish): I am a Black woman.

OSVALDO BILBAO LOBATÓN (in Spanish): I am a Black man.

KÁTIA DOS SANTOS PENHA (in Portuguese): I’m a Black woman, a quilombola.

DIÓGENES DÍAZ (in Spanish): Being Afro-descendant isn’t a skin color, it’s an identity.

[Miguel Pereira, Uruguay. La Voz de la Comunidad. A Black man wearing glasses and a t-shirt.]

MIGUEL PEREIRA (in Spanish): Today, we face the challenge—the international community faces the challenge—of recognizing Afro-descendants as a people. And that is what we are trying to push for.

NARRATOR: For generations, Afro-descendant peoples have safeguarded forests, rivers, marine, and coastal territories. Their lands are among the most biodiverse on Earth—with up to 55% less deforestation than the average. Yet too often, the contributions of Afro-descendants are unrecognized, their rights denied, and their communities rendered invisible.

[Sonia Viveros Padilla, Ecuador. Fundación Azúcar. A Black woman wearing a brightly patterned yellow blouse, glasses, and earrings in the shape of the African continent]

SONIA VIVEROS PADILLA (in Spanish): The invisibility of a large number of Afro-descendants across the Americas also makes invisible the contributions we have made to protecting our territories and keeping them alive.

NARRATOR: Afro-descendant peoples steward millions of hectares of land, but most remains untitled and unrecognized. Without land rights and recognition, they face displacement, violence, and inadequate access to health care, education, safe water, and basic services. And the worsening impacts of climate change—drying rivers, failed crops, and rising seas—deepen every injustice.

[José Silvano Silva, Brazil, CONAQ. A tall Black man of medium build, wearing a dark blue shirt.]

JOSÉ SILVANO SILVA (in Portuguese): In the last two years, extreme droughts dried up all the rivers. Our rivers are our roads, so now we can’t move around. It causes food shortages, both in crops and in fish.

NARRATOR: In response, Afro-descendant leaders have come together to form CITAFRO—a coalition uniting territorial communities across the region. CITAFRO works to defend rights, secure land tenure, and demand recognition and territorial protection in national climate action plans.

[Maria Isabel Cabral da Silva, Brazil. CONAQ. A Black woman with cornrows mixed with box braids, wearing a colorful orange dress, a denim jacket, and red glasses]

MARIA ISABEL CABRAL DA SILVA (in Portuguese): Climate justice for us means definitive legal recognition of Quilombola territories.

[Altagracia Balcacer, Red de Mujeres Afrolatinoamericanas, Afrocaribeñas y de la Diáspora, Dominican Republic. A Black woman with curly hair, wearing a blue striped blouse and hoop earrings, ]

ALTAGRACIA BALCACER (in Spanish): Climate justice means finding ways to ensure that the countries most destructive to the climate take responsibility for their share.

NARRATOR: In 2024, global leaders at the COP16 biodiversity conference recognized Afro-descendants as essential partners in nature protection. Today, their demands are urgent and clear: Collective rights must be recognized, territories must be titled, flexible climate finance must reach communities directly, and Afro-descendant voices must be at the table where decisions are made.

[Leidy Tatiana Ramos Angola, Colombia. Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN). A Black woman with long hair, wearing a bright orange shirt and a necklace that depicts the African continent.

LEIDY TATIANA RAMOS ANGOLA (in Spanish): Afro-descendant people must have a voice and a vote. We are the ones who know how to care for the land. We know what must and must not be done to reduce climate change.

NARRATOR: Their recognition is not only justice—it is essential for climate resilience, for survival, and for our collective future.

[The Ford Foundation logo is stacked in a bold black serif font, then transforms into a single letter “F” set inside a black circle.]

Archival Footage and Stills

CONAQ Archives

Darwin Torres / PCN / CITAFRO Envato

Pixels Unsplash

Accessibility Statement

Transcript

YOUNG ACTIVISTS: Don’t fail us.

[A medley of voices of people featured in the video speak under images of people from all over the world]

INTERVIEWEES: The world we want is a peaceful, just, and inclusive society where we put human rights at the center of the climate transition, where the environment is protected, and where we work together in the spirit of solidarity and unity.

Susana Muhammad hits a gavel at the United Nations nature summit: Adopted!

And that is what LEAD, the Leaders Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders, is trying to achieve.

OLIVIER NDOOLE, Founder and Executive Secretary, Congolese Alert for the Environment and Human Rights(in French): The LEAD initiative is our hope for tomorrow’s future. For us environmental defenders, it is the hallmark of global solidarity.

JOSÉ MANUEL SALAZAR-XIRINACHS, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Latin America: Now is the moment of truth for climate action and sustainability.

Young person at protest in Scotland: Young people are watching.

JOSÉ MANUEL SALAZAR-XIRINACHS: It is clear that to protect the environment, we have to protect those people that defend the environment.

Sonia Guajajara representing Indigenous groups at the COP28 Climate Conference in Dubai: Demarcation! Now!

MARTÍN ABREGÚ, Vice President, International Programs, Ford Foundation: Policymakers and governmental officials, frontline defenders, and colleagues from philanthropy. Let’s join our efforts and resources to create a space for the recognition, protection, and participation of defenders.

Students in New York City: Who’s future? Our future.

JUAN DAVID AMAYA, Chief Executive Officer, Life of Pachama (in Spanish): All over the world environmental rights defenders—Indigenous People, young people, and children—are leading movements, claiming our rights, and taking action to reduce global temperatures.

Indigenous people gather together in the Amazon.

DINAMAM TUXÁ, Executive Coordinator, Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil(in Portuguese): Throughout history, Indigenous Peoples have shown the world that it is possible to preserve and survive peacefully with the environment.

ALFRED BROWNELL, Founding President, Global Climate Legal Defense: It is time to rethink development and investment. Indigenous People are investors and development experts—and very successful ones at it too.

JOAN CARLING, Executive Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights International: We protect against destruction and unjust exploitation. And by doing so, we are being criminalized. We are being attacked. We are sacrificing our lives to protect the environment for future generations.

Juan David Amaya (in Spanish): The objectives of LEAD are to address the challenges faced by defenders, to amplify the voices of those who defend their territory, and position the demands of movements in different decision-making scenarios.

Activists standing together in a circle: What do we want? Climate justice! When do we want it? Now!

HERLIN ODICIO, President, Native Federation of Kakataibo Communities, Peru(in Spanish): Indigenous Peoples are not being included in many regional, national, and international decision-making processes.

MARTÍNA BREGÚ: We cannot achieve dignity, justice, and equality without securing a space for people to organize freely and act in solidarity to address critical challenges facing their communities and the world.

OLIVIER NDOOLE (in French): The message is simple: grassroots defenders,Indigenous Peoples, and local communities, have a big role to play in influencing not only policy, but also in preserving our planet.

VOLKER TÜRK, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights: The Leaders Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders: They are standing up for the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment. So I urge you to take action to protect civic space and help us to build a more sustainable and more equal future.

JOAN CARLING: We need your voice so defenders like us are no longer killed or silenced for fighting for our planet. And we need stakeholders to recognize the role we play in climate emergency solutions.

ALFRED BROWNELL: Please act now, before it is too late.

Activists marching for climate justice all over the world: People! Power! People! Power! People over profit! Sea levels are rising and so are we! Our planet! Not for sale. Our Water! Not for sale! Our pride! Not for sale!

CREDITS

Lead: Leaders Network for Environmental Activists and Defenders

World Resource Institute
Angoc
Resilient40: A youth voice for a climate resilient Africa
Alliance for Land, Indigenous and Environmental Defenders
Global Witness
Disability People’s Forum
CIVICUS
Organization for Community Engagement
NAMATI
ACEDH
International Center for Not-for-Profit Law
European Center for Not-for-Profit Law
Articulação Nacional das Mulheres Indígenas Guerreiras da Ancestralidade (ANMIGA)
Global Citizen
Ford Foundation

Director and Executive Producer: Jessica Reynolds
Producer and Editor: Renee Forbes
Production Services: KC Video Productions

Archival Footage:
Getty
Global Citizen
Global Witness
Goldman Environmental Prize
If Not Us Then Who?
TED Amazon

Accessibility Statement

Transcript

GALINA ANGAROVA [a woman from the Ekhirit nation of the Buryat Peoples, a Russian indigenous group, wearing a white blouse and black sweater, Executive Director of SIRGE Coalition]:

The world we want is one where there are enough resources for everyone, and the world where everyone is thriving. Over 54% of all transition minerals needed for this energy transition is located either on or near Indigenous people’s lands and territories, and that fact poses an existential threat to many Indigenous peoples. The SIRGE Coalition stands for Securing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in the Green Economy. And we are a coalition of Indigenous leaders, Indigenous-led organizations, and allies who came together to secure Indigenous peoples’ rights in this new digital and energy transition.

Today, we’re in conversations with over a dozen end-user companies that are seriously considering Indigenous people’s rights and are willing to put free, prior, and informed consent into their policies: environmental policies, human rights policies, supplier code of conduct. Free, prior, and informed consent is the right that belongs to Indigenous peoples. It does not belong to governments, it does not belong to corporations. Indigenous peoples offer solutions. We’re not victims. We’re not beneficiaries. We’re decision-makers, we’re protagonists, and we’re actors in our own lives.

End of transcript.

Accessibility Statement

Transcript

JOSHUA AMPONSEM [An African man from Ghana wearing a white shirt and blue jacket, Co-Director and Youth Climate Justice Fund]:

The world we want is one where young people are seen as drivers, movers, shakers, and leaders of today and tomorrow. In the world I live in now, only 0.76 [percent] of climate philanthropy is going into the hands of young climate leaders. We cannot say that young people are the last generation to fight the climate crisis and not trust them with resources. At the Youth Climate Justice Fund, we focus on three main areas.

One, holding policymakers accountable to their existing promises and pledges. The second part is raising ambition on climate and making sure that we are supporting groups that are helping the world leaders meet their targets. The third part is building leadership rooted in community. We want to build and support young people to become the next leaders in philanthropy, in businesses, in intergovernmental organizations connected to their communities, and truly representing them at a broader scale.

Young people, particularly those from the Global South, are currently living through one of the toughest times of their lives, and the future ahead of them is very uncertain. Young people from these communities need to be included in decision making, in the planning, the implementation, but also trust and resources in their  hands directly to create a new future, the future that fits their vision of a better world and a resilient world.

End of transcript.

Accessibility Statement