1st Latin American Meeting of Environmental Defenders for Climate Action (2022)
On the 3rd and 4th of November the 1st Latin American Meeting of Environmental Defenders for Climate Action was held in Buenos Aires. It was organized by Fundación Plurales, Colectivo CASA and Tierra Viva, and more than 40 women representing 30 Environmental Defense organizations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and El Salvador participated.
During the days we fought together. From a ceremony I asked for permission to Pachamama to start the event, until we met in person and were able to give us the hug that we owed ourselves after years of virtuality and pandemic, the Encuentro was always the same. The objective we set ourselves was achieved with growth. We promote alliances between organizations to take further collective actions in defense of territories, we share strategies for incidence, visibility and strengthening of these initiatives for gender justice and climate justice. But mainly, we saw each other face to face, we knew each other and we hugged each other without intermediaries.
Here we share, through the voices of the women who participated, something of what this meeting was.
The marks of the Meeting in our hearts
“What pleased me, the Meeting was a wonderful opportunity to share and know that the needs of our community were also the same needs in Latin America. That this gender gap still persists in land ownership and despite this, rural women have recognition and this role is well rooted, because it is decisive in the development of food sovereignty and the eradication of poverty. Everything is about changing this ecosystem from which we grew the fortune of each Latin American woman, from being born to defending it, caring for it, protecting it and also to regenerate, caring for these inheritances that the State and companies are making. This strength left me with my Latin American sisters to follow this path”, says Marisol Angulo, member of the Red Ecuatoriana de Forestería Analog (REFA).
For her part, Lesbia Pérez, who represents the Council of women of the Asociación de Forestería Comunitaria de Guatemala Utz Che’, details that “the experience that gave us the exchange was quite good. Knowing topics that are so important that we sometimes ignore them. Know the experiences of others, as women, and put ourselves in the shoes of other companions. The other thing that pleases me is to come and talk to our compañeras and tell our experiences, because we are different from country to country, from territory to territory.”
Adela Guerrero, member of the Asociación Nochari in Nicaragua, highlights that the Meeting was “a space for much exchange, learning, connection between our mothers, women, with the mother of the earth”, where they could share “our apprenticeship in two feminist schools”.
“For me it was a very important event, of great strength, of relationships between women from different countries, of exchange of experiences. We strengthened ourselves a lot, we were able to embrace each other, it was wonderful”, describes Bernarda Benítez Gudiño from Asociación de Mujeres de la provincia O’Connor (AMPRO) from Bolivia.
Nelly Alcaraz, from the Equipo de Mujeres Campesinas del Movimiento Campesino de Formosa (MOCAFOR) in Argentina, coincides with all the events that give a feeling of great strength for the unity among Latin American partners.
Jenny Luján, who belongs to the Asamblea por la Vida Chilecito and Mujeres Defensoras del Agüita del Famatina in Argentina, describes the Meeting as “a powerful possibility of creating Latin American networks of resistance to extractivism, a model of production and development of death, and building spaces for the exchange of knowledge that strengthens the struggles territorial. A loving, genuine and powerful space with the views and feelings of women.”
“The Meeting was an extremely enriching experience, both personally and for my organization, because it was a space where I could learn about the struggles that are leading different companies in different countries in Latin America. It will also make you aware of what someone is doing within your country, which are the tools that are using the companies to follow the work from the organizations, from the communities. And it was an enriching experience, I’ll say it again, because you realize that you are not alone, that you also have other companions in other countries, in other regions, that you have different realities when it comes to the environment, the region, the territory, we have the same problems and the same difficulties. Sometimes we also see that they are using new tools, new forms of wrestling and that serves us to come and replicate in our areas”, highlights Alba Osuna, member of the Red de Mujeres de Pilar, Paraguay.
For her part, María del Carmen García, from Escuela para Defensoras en Derechos Humanos y Ambientales Benita Galiana from Guadalajara, Mexico, explains that it was “the joy of articulating together in this alliance of justice against climate change.” Know the work of other schools that fight against megaprojects of death, monocultures, and mining. Something that also delights me is this need to continue analyzing and debating our political stances before the International Summits and the geopolitical situation”, but “landing on our own and not in the future, gaining greater awareness in this alliance of what we want to do and not leaving us behind the international oceans”.
“The Meeting of Environmental Defenders gave me a lot of knowledge, experiences and ideas from other comrades who fought to defend their territories, La Madre Tierra, they had to suffer to be able to achieve their objectives. -accounts for Honduran Leylis Vijil, part of the Unión de Empresas del Sector Social de la Economía Ambiental de Marcovia (UEDESAMAR)– We can also note that we have the same problem with the extractive industries. We must remain united, fighting to help our territories.”
Finally, María de Jesús Jiménez, from the Asociación de Mujeres Indígenas in Santa María Xalapan, Guatemala, says that for her the event “was very fruitful”. He explains that “we were able to learn about the different fights that we have in the territories and share our experiences. It is important to find ourselves among defenders in Latin America to put our fights there and transmit knowledge to others and to us.”
The exit is collective
All women coincide in the importance of generating spaces where they exchange their skills and tools. But furthermore “it is very important to find ourselves among environmental defenders to heal our inheritances that are coming this day to day to defend our territory, to defend Mother Earth and that fortress that we are giving ourselves to others”, describes Marisol from Ecuador.
Lesbia, from Guatemala, says: “We have more value in knowing that we are many people in the world who defend our territory, we defend many comrades and come to put it into practice in our grassroots organizations”. Aggregate in addition, who counted the experience in his grassroots organization in his territory and shared all the tools he learned.
“The Meeting is the certainty that united women are confronting and planning concrete alternatives to the climate crisis, that these proposals are anchored in a story, in a heritage of struggle against different extractive projects that have served us as an experience to be able to identify those responsible for the climate crisis that we are experiencing. I also consider that it is very important to continue promoting, promoting and participating in spaces between women, especially in terms of exchanges of strategies in formation based on popular feminist education”, explains Carmen Aliaga, part of the collective for the coordination of socio-environmental actions of the Colectivo Casa in Bolivia, which is also a member of Red Latinoamericana de Mujeres Defensoras de Derechos Sociales y Ambientales, which coordinates the Escuelita por la Justicia Climática Feminista, which unites partners from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Bolivia.
“These meetings are a generator of energy, of a lot of positive energy, a lot of good vibrancy -describes Alba- Friendships, companionship relationships are created. Strong relationships that one needs to move forward, to strengthen you personally, but also create bonds with organizations. It is very important because from then on, a synergy, a symbiosis between regions can be generated. Sometimes we realize that we know very few organizations of women who are also working in the same things that we care about.”
Hermógena Calderón, from the Red Nacional de Mujeres en Defensa de la Madre Tierra (RENAMAT) from Bolivia, also refers to the importance of exchange and encounter, “to have a line of coordination, for mutual support”. It states: “La Unión hace la Fuerza!”. Furthermore, it is essential to recognize common enemies. “Our fights are against the same monster that oppresses us, patriarchy, capitalism and colonialism. This is the system that deprives us of our daily lives, our health and our bienes communities. Our strength will always be the collective organization, together we are stronger”, says Carmen de México.
Ibis Colindres from Fondo Tierra VIVA in Honduras, explains that “there is a wealth of climate solutions led by women who are contributing to mitigation and adaptation to climate change in the region of Latin America”. In this framework, it demands: “It is urgent that we rely on political support and financial support from decision makers in all countries”.
Urgent voices from Latin America
“We are suffering the consequences of those bad plans, decisions and actions of the State and private extractivist companies. The global warming is not going backwards, so we are both in the hands of rural women in Latin America, we are in defense of our spaces and our territories to preserve life in harmony with nature, who are also women, and as life-givers to contribute to food security and thus allow us to coexistence and resilience with nature and with this I am securing life”, says Marisol from Ecuador.
Faced with the question of what is urgent that all of Latin America and the Caribbean separates, the answers are blunt. As you rise up, your strength is unstoppable.
Lesbian from Guatemala: “We urgently need to know the impact that is causing the agroindustries, all these companies that are causing damage. Climate change is urgent, we have to know it for all the inhabitants of the world, including them.”
“On the ground in Honduras, companies are dressing up in green suits. We are fighting, but I always feel a little intimidated, because I’m scared because you see what happened here in Honduras, the women are victims. Let something be achieved to continue fighting and have a single voice, unite and shout that we are fighting for our territories, our lands, our resources because it is not good to call, we have to raise the voice among defenders, among fighting women, Latin Americans who are going to defend our territories. Women who defend their hearts, their nails, everything. I feel motivated, always with the emotion that we are going to do something for our territories, our lands”, says Leylis.
Carmen from Bolivia explains that “campesan women and defenders learn and transmit knowledge in a different way, from ancient wisdom. Many times this way of generating knowledge has been delegitimized by formal education, which is why we rely on processes of popular education, processes of feminist education that accompany the defense of the territory. We believe that it is one of the fundamental conditions for women to strengthen their female leadership.”
Also from Bolivia, Hermógena made a call: “It is urgent to unify us to save Mother Tierra. Our Mother Tierra is all for us, the Original Indigenous Pueblos.” On the other hand, “it is super important that Latin America rises up and takes a stand and poses everything that belongs to it, because the history of Latin America is rich, it is too rich so that we cannot build alternatives. We have, as women, all the power to build alternatives based on our dreams and our ideals, a different, more fair, supportive world. We are only going to be able to do it if the women lift us up and take us hand in hand and accompany us in this fight that belongs to us and leaves us with others”, says Ruth Amarilla, who is following the process of the Comité de Mujeres Kuña Aty de Tava Guaraní in Paraguay.
“Meeting as a defender is very important because that’s how we have a single voice to be heard, because a single person can’t do anything. In this time that we are living, we are alone and apart, and so, by standing in front of us as defenders, we can do many things”, concludes Leylis from Honduras.
From these days of work, combined with everything previously done at the Feminist School for Climate Action (EFAC), a collectively constructed statement emerged. This document was taken to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change 2022 (COP 27), as a bearer of the voices of all these women and their territories.
Along these lines, Mirna Rodríguez from Fondo Tierra VIVA, expressed: “The most important part of the Meeting is that we created the document for COP27. For me it is very important, because sometimes we don’t take it as something important and the work falls into place. So this motivated me and I believe it is very important because in addition to what we worked on there, it took place where we had to carry out the planting. I believe that this is really an advance for us, so that our voices can be heard, so that we can understand what we face day by day in our countries. That this work that we have already done and that we are carrying out, does not have to be done alone on paper, but rather that it is known to all media, where it arrives, to people and instances where it arrives, and that is the most important thing”.
