With Brazil’s president branding COP30 the “turnaround COP”, environmental defenders, Indigenous Peoples and other experts set out Host Country Agreement recommendations to meaningfully include climate frontline voices at the conference. Plurales has directly contributed to the development of these recommendations.
As Brazil prepares to host COP30 in Belém, expectations are high for it to rise to the occasion — not just as a venue, but as a global leader in shaping a democracy that benefits the environment.
Brazil’s recent political transformations and renewed commitment to inclusive governance offer a unique opportunity to set a precedent for how climate negotiations can and should be conducted.
Crucial to this moment is the Host Country Agreement (HCA) — a legal accord between the UNFCCC and the host government that establishes the terms for organising COP.
The HCA governs essential elements such as security, visa access, participant rights, freedom of assembly and protection of personal data. In short, it shapes the civic space available for environmental and human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples and civil society during the conference. It can either reinforce democratic participation or place harmful restrictions on it.
Recommendations for the Host Country Agreement guiding COP30 We have published some recommendations for how the HCA should work in practice below, so that environmental and human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples, traditional communities, land and environmental defenders and other frontline groups are genuinely included in the negotiation spaces that affect them.
Over 140 organisations have endorsed these proposals, calling on the Brazilian government and the UNFCCC Secretariat to embed clear rights-based commitments into the HCA.
Summary of HCA recommendations
These recommendations outline specific legal, operational and procedural measures to be included in the COP30 Host Country Agreement. They are rooted in international human rights standards and lessons learned from past COPs.
Human rights protections Explicit guarantee of rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, access to information and public participation Non-retaliation clauses prohibiting surveillance, detention or reprisals against participants during or after the COP
Transparency and accountability Mandatory disclosure of all sponsorships; bans on sponsorships from entities with environmentally harmful records A conflict-of-interest policy requiring public declarations by organisers Mechanisms to receive and respond to complaints of human rights violations
Observer access and civic space Clear rules to ensure unrestricted access for observers to negotiation rooms Publication of all requirements and deadlines for side-events and civil society participation
Security and legal support Human rights training for security personnel; ban on excessive use of force A rapid response protocol and legal aid system for at-risk defenders Deployment of neutral observers to document abuses or threats
Digital and physical accessibility Venues must be accessible to people with disabilities and offer family-friendly spaces Virtual participation must be supported with high-quality technology infrastructure Information must be available in multiple formats and languages
Visa and travel access Free, fast and fair visa issuance, including e-visas and non-digital alternatives Designation of a visa focal point and prohibition of discriminatory visa denials
Accommodation and affordability Government coordination to provide affordable and safe lodging for participants, especially those from the Global South
Privacy and data protection Prohibition of spyware and unlawful surveillance; strong safeguards for personal data of all participants
Full public disclosure of the agreement The full text of the Host Country Agreement must be published immediately after signing, with no redactions related to civic freedoms or participation
By adopting these recommendations, Brazil can make COP30 a landmark event in the history of environmental negotiations – one where civil society is not only present but meaningfully heard.
*Image: Cícero Pedrosa Neto / Global Witness
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Let us remember that the context of alarming socio-environmental crisis prompted us to design new strategies that support and strengthen local communities and organizations through concrete tools and solutions to promote collective power from the territory. We became a Socio-Environmental Fund to contribute to strengthening the capacities of environmental activist organizations (OAS) from a gender and environmental justice perspective, in the fight against the climate crisis for the preservation of the environment.
During this meeting, in addition to evaluating the impact and procedure of the fund to improve practices, we created a space for analysis of the current situation and common strategies. Two days of hard work to socialize the experiences of each organization and strengthen and weave new networks.
In general the impact was positive and there were very good results. What stood out most was the flexibility of the fund that could be adapted on the fly to the real needs of the territory at that time, beyond its original destination. That was one of our main objectives because we have more than 20 years of work and we know that on many occasions interventions through the system of projects and programs are not enough to respond to the demands and needs for strengthening and impact of local, rural and indigenous communities and organizations.
Development aid and international cooperation projects impose very rigid institutional frameworks that are alien to realities; this is aggravated by their complex contextual conditions. That is why we want to work on the direct and flexible allocation of funds that strengthen the capacities of local communities to make decisions autonomously and carry out actions based on their practices and knowledge, adapted to their specific context.
https://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/Encuientro-copartes-Fondo-marzo-2025.jpg11242000plurales1 Fundaciónhttps://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Plurales-logoFullcolor.pngplurales1 Fundación2025-03-11 16:07:252025-03-11 16:07:27Meeting with organizations selected in Fair Climate Solutions Fund with a Gender Perspective
We are working with the Comité de Defensores de Tariquia Canton Chiquiaca, which since 2018 has protected the “Tariquia National Flora and Fauna Reserve” from the intention of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), with the transnational company PETROBRAS, to explore for the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources there.
The Committee, made up of community members from the ten communities that make up the Canton, in 2021 and with the intermediation of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights and the Ombudsman’s Office, managed to get them to stop the exploratory tasks. In October 2024, YPFB and PETROBRAS tried again and the Committee set up a blockade point in the Community of Zaican. On October 11, the Bolivian police used force against the blockade and YPFB filed a complaint with the Tarija Department Prosecutor’s Office against 30 members of the Committee for obstructing work (to date, the complaint has been extended to 7 more community members who have not yet been notified).
“This situation has weakened the Defense Committee and left it very afraid, since the presence of police at the blockade has caused YPFB personnel to continue gathering information. There is intimidation and harassment due to the presence of police, they take photographs, record videos and at night they harass the few people who remain at the blockade. There are many needs, including a lawyer who responds to the interests of the community members, who provides them with less technical and understandable information, who gives them the security that they are being represented and that there are national and international regulations that protect them. There is also a lack of food for the communal pot, flashlights and economic resources to move around. Given YPFB’s insistence on entering the area, it has divided the population by promising them work and economic resources from hydrocarbon exploitation”.
On October 15, the 10 communities of the Chiquiaca Canton met and held a vote by communal member to decide whether the companies would join. The result was 182 votes for “YES” and 292 for “NO.” The next day, YPFB launched an advertising spot announcing that the “yes” had won, confusing the population and distorting the information. Thus, on October 17, a commission from the Chiquiaca Canton held a press conference in Tarija announcing the democratic decision and handed out copies of the minutes of the meeting to different authorities such as the Government of the Department of Tarija, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Human Rights Assembly, YPFB, the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Police, the Municipality of Entre Ríos, among others.
Exploration at Domo Oso X3 continues and the companies argue that it is not within the Natural Reserve but next to it. This place is at the headwaters of water sources such as Quebrada el Oso and Quebrada de Zaican that feed the Chiquiaca River that runs through the 10 communities and joins the Tarija and Bermejo Rivers on the border with Argentina.
It is essential to care for those who care for us and to quickly support environmental activists and defenders in the face of personal or organizational emergency situations, consequences of the work they do every day, defending the territory and natural resources. Thus, through this Urgent Fund for Activists we will strengthen this Committee in Bolivia and continue to advance with this line of funding that is permanently open and linked to legal assistance, visibility and advocacy, protection and self-care measures, and relocation of Environmental Defenders and their families in emergency situations.
*Photos: Courtesy of Comité de Defensores de Tariquia Canton Chiquiaca
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With the intention of thinking of a specific regional strategy that goes beyond the immediate context, we participated in COP 16 to think about COP30 towards the broader horizon of COP 31 and beyond.
In November 2021, we received the Gender-Just Climate Solutions Award from Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), a high-level awards ceremony that has been held since 2015 during the annual global climate negotiations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).
In addition to the recognition, the organizations that receive the recognition are invited to participate in the Women and Gender Constituent Group (WGC). It is one of the nine stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was established in 2009 and is working to ensure that women’s voices and their rights are integrated into all processes and outcomes under the UNFCCC.
Foto: Kit Huayas
Latinas embodied
Within the WGC we promote the Latin Feminist Network for Climate Action to strengthen organizations in South America. In this framework, during the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP 16) we carried out the Juntanza Feminista WGC LAC, together with WGC and WEDO.
This moment was a valuable opportunity to “connect with feminists in the region, develop strategies and commit to shaping the debates and results of COP30 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change in 2025), while building long-term and high-impact collaborations within and outside feminist networks”.
We called on different organizations, not all of which were part of the WGC, but they do share its principles “to join the generation of a regionalization process that can take into account the particularities of each zone/region but above all unite the senses, common feelings”.
Foto: Kit Huayas
COP 29
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29) will be held from Monday 11 to Friday 22, 2024, in the city of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, and Plurales will be participating as part of the Women and Gender Constituent Group.
The main topics of this Conference will be the progress in the new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), planned for 2025 (at COP28 it was clear that the new national climate commitments must be aligned with the goal of keeping the average global temperature below 1.5 °C). Second, financing for countries to adopt strong climate commitments.
This COP will bring together leaders from governments, businesses and civil society to address the climate crisis. Plurales will bring together the experiences of scalable feminist climate initiatives for a sustainable and fair future, where women’s equality and human rights are fundamental to all ongoing debates.
Foto: Kit HuayasFoto: Kit Huayas
*Photos courtesy of Kit Huayas.
https://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/WECF-WGC-mujeres-genero-feministas-COP-16-Red-Latina-04-scaled.jpg14402560plurales1 Fundaciónhttps://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Plurales-logoFullcolor.pngplurales1 Fundación2024-11-04 16:10:002024-12-04 17:03:53We promote the Red Latina Feminista por la Acción Climática
During 2024, the alarming context of social and economic crisis prompted us to design new strategies in our task of promoting collective power from the territory, which is why we became the PLURALES SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL FUND.
We have more than 20 years of work in the field and we know that in many cases, interventions through the system of projects and programs are not enough to respond to the demands and needs of local, rural and indigenous communities and organizations. In addition, international aid projects impose very rigid institutional frameworks that are alien to territorial realities. This is aggravated by the complex contextual conditions of the communities.
Within this framework, we have added ten new projects that will strengthen communities through the mobilization of flexible resources. These organizations will make decisions autonomously and carry out actions based on their practices and knowledge, adapted to their specific context.
You too can promote fair socio-environmental practices. Contribute to enhance the collective power of the territories.
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From October 21 to November 1, Santiago de Cali, Colombia, will host the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP 16). Plurales will be participating in the meeting in general and promoting two events and a campaign in particular.
It will be the first COP on biodiversity since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP 15, held in December 2022 in Montreal, Canada. This agreement has the 30×30 objective: to stop and reverse the loss of biodiversity by protecting 30% of the land surface and 30% of the marine environment by 2030.
On the one hand, the documentary “Reflejos” (Colombia, 2024) will be presented by Weisny Yireth Velaides, member of Fundación Mujer, Amazonía y Paz (Funmapaz), from Caquetá. On the other hand, Débora Sajama, from the Coalición Nacional por la Tierra ENI – Argentina and from the Aboriginal Community of Casa Grande, Vizcarra and El Portillo, from El Aguilar, Jujuy, will present “Litio, qué hay detrás de la Reforma” (Argentina, 2023).
When: Tuesday 10/22, 2:00 p.m. (Colombia time)
Where: Banco de Bogotá – Auditorium (CRA 4 #7 – 61, San Pedro, Cali)
On Wednesday 23rd, together with Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN – IUCN SUR – IUCN NL – ORMACC), the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law (SPDA), the CBD Women’s Caucus (CBD WC), ECO Maxei and the Encuentro de Juventudes por Escazú (ENJUVES), we organized the event “Empowering women environmental defenders: territorial strategies with a gender perspective from Latin America relevant to monitoring the Global Biodiversity Framework”.
When: Wednesday 23/10, 18 (Colombia time)
Where: Cano Cristales – CEE – Plaza Uno meeting room – Cali, Colombia and also online live
Interpretation into Spanish and English.
When: Wednesday 23/10, 18 (Colombia time) Where: Cano Cristales – CEE – Plaza Uno meeting room – Cali, Colombia and also online live Interpretation into Spanish and English.
“Women have a central role in the conservation of biodiversity”, with this premise and with the help of UN Women, environmental defenders from Argentina, Guatemala and Ecuador and coordinator of the CBD Women’s Caucus, “we will explore what strategies can be implemented to monitor compliance with the Global Biodiversity Framework from a gender perspective”.
On the 24th we will participate in “Guardians of the Rights of Mother Nature”. Nicolás Avellaneda, member of Plurales, will be with Erick Pajares, Executive Director of CIMA – Cordillera Azul (Peru), Ketty Marcelo, President of ONAMIAP (Peru), Simón Crisóstomo, Citizen Observatory (Chile) and Josefina Tunki, TICCA Network (Chile).
The objective of this activity is “to make known and reflect on the struggle for the recognition of the rights of Mother Nature as a position that allows the integral conservation of ecosystems, cultures and the interdependent relationships between them, through the presentation of cases where this has already occurred and the discussion of its limitations and scope”.
We will also be part of the Women and Gender Constituent (WGC), one of the nine official stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was created in 2009 and is currently made up of more than 50 civil society organizations and networks of women and environmentalists.
“The objective of the LAC-WGC will be to amplify the voice, concerns, contexts and demands of women’s organizations and collectives in all their diversity, non-binary people, feminists and activists who come together for gender justice and who are articulated for the region, working at the intersection with climate change. This regional node also aims to strengthen political advocacy, particularly in the multilateral space of the UNFCCC and climate-related processes in Latin America and the Caribbean, to develop, reflect on and promote common positions that are part of the Women and Gender Constituent (WGC)”.
In the context of this event, we want to make visible, raise awareness and influence the process of land dispossession through extractivism, the energy transition and the use of constitutional reform in Jujuy, Argentina.
Thus, through the campaign “Let’s defend Jujuy: no to energy transition without rights” we will be making visible the case of Jujuy with lithium and the unconstitutional reform of the province to increase extraction. We will spread the word about the energy transition and what it means to put it into practice through the increase of violent extractivism in local and indigenous communities and we will position the need for land governance centered on the people who inhabit it and their role in the conservation of biodiversity.
For Plurales, it is important to participate in these types of international events, but fundamentally to promote the participation and influence of organizations from the territories with which we work. These global spaces do not always take the direction we expect. Even so, we believe that opening debates and disputes at these levels of influence is still viable and allows us to make other worlds possible and not just the one that a few try to impose on us.
https://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Cop16-Colombia-Cali-03.jpg6751200plurales1 Fundaciónhttps://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Plurales-logoFullcolor.pngplurales1 Fundación2024-10-21 15:56:002024-12-04 15:57:38Present at COP16
The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (November 11-22) is approaching and the just energy transition is increasingly critical for climate action. The upcoming United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the UN Future Summit and the World Summit on Renewable Energy, all to be held in September, are a fundamental opportunity for our historic demands.
In this context, Plurales joined the Campaign for the Global Week of Action for Climate Finance and a Fossil-Free Future. It is from September 13 to 20 and includes virtual and in-person activities to demand “a radical transformation of our social, economic and political systems (…) Together, let us raise our voices to demand that governments in the Global North stop making empty promises and pandering to corporations to perpetuate fossil fuels. They must fulfill their climate finance obligations in full. They must play their part in national and international actions to ensure a gradual, rapid, fair, feminist and funded elimination of fossil fuels”.
It started on Friday 13 September with over 150 events spanning more than 50 countries on all continents. It closes on the 20th with an invitation to flood the streets. “Governments in the Global North must listen to the people who are rising up, demanding at least $5 trillion a year. The continued denial of obligations is unacceptable. Adequate, public, debt-free climate finance for mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and a just energy transition is urgently needed.”
PayUp Climate Finance
“For decades, governments in the Global North have consistently failed to do their fair share of climate action, both nationally and internationally. This fair share includes delivering climate finance to the Global South, an obligation they committed to as parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Climate finance is also part of reparations for the climate debt they owe to the peoples of the South for the historic and ongoing damages caused by their disproportionately large contributions to the climate crisis”.
They denounce that so far the total climate finance “is a pittance compared to the trillions of dollars needed to finance the climate needs and priorities of the peoples and countries of the Global South (for mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and a just and equitable transition)”.
“Despite agreed climate targets and massive warnings from climate scientists, governments in the Global North are colluding with tax-dodging elites and polluting corporations to expand fossil fuel extraction and production”. We know that a rapid, equitable and just transition to renewable energy systems is urgently needed and we continue to demand it.
https://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/Campana-combustible-fosil-financiamiento-climatico.jpg10801920plurales1 Fundaciónhttps://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Plurales-logoFullcolor.pngplurales1 Fundación2024-09-18 15:34:002024-12-04 15:58:23Climate finance and a fossil-free future
The 2nd Encuentro Latinoamericano de Defensoras Ambientales para la Acción Climática took place from 16 to 18 August in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Organised by Plurales, Colectivo CASA and Tierra Viva, it brought together more than 40 women from 30 organisations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and El Salvador.
This space contributes to strengthening and promoting alliances between organisations of environmental, peasant, indigenous, Afro-descendant and marginalised urban defenders in Latin America, to carry out collective actions in defence of territories, share advocacy strategies, make visible and strengthen the initiatives they carry out for gender and climate justice.
Marisol Angulo, a member of the Red Ecuatoriana de Forestería Análoga (REFA), participated in the meeting and says that “we found it very energizing to share experiences, to listen to colleagues who have the same problem. We may have limits in the territories where we live in each country, but there are no limits in our spaces as women where we work, because the needs are the same, they are identical. Here we have already found the tools to continue the feminist struggle against climate change in our spaces”.
Why the Encuentro?
At present, the structural inequalities suffered by rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant and impoverished urban women are being exacerbated by the climate crisis, the global economic crisis, the adjustment policies of Latin American states, the growing concentration of power of financial capital and the advance of extractivism on natural resources, elements that only continue to sustain, perpetuate and deepen the current capitalist system.
Extractive industries, mining, oil, agribusiness, among others, seriously damage natural resources and have serious consequences for the health, food security, productive activities and permanence in the territories of women, girls and young people. Floods, droughts and the frequency of other natural disasters make the climate crisis a reality today more than ever, with serious and differentiated impacts on the lives of peasant and indigenous communities, but especially on women and girls, who have historically taken on the tasks of care, reproduction and maintenance of life.
Added to this is the imbalance of power in which communities, and women in particular, defend their lands, territories and common goods, putting their own lives at risk, in addition to providing for them on a daily basis. Physical, psychological, political, patrimonial, sexual and environmental violence multiply within this patriarchy with multiple faces: religious, institutional, state, extractive and even humanitarian.
Even in this adverse scenario, rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant and marginalised urban women maintain the will to promote articulations to develop joint actions of advocacy, visibility and communication of the problems and their initiatives to address them. Women in the territories are building horizons of climate justice from the worldview of their people and in accordance with their way of life. In this context, the 2nd Latin American Meeting of Environmental Defenders for Climate Action continues to promote feminist climate agendas for the defence of territories.
As in the 1st EFAC Encuentro, a statement was produced collectively, carrying the voices of all these women and their territories, and will soon be shared publicly. In the meantime, we invite you to see the declaration of the 1st meeting.
Clara Merino Serrano, of the Luna Creciente collective from Ecuador, explains that “it seems to me that this is a step, but we must continue to create units of women from the territories in very serious times, when we are experiencing great setbacks of the capitalist, patriarchal and colonial against our people and especially against us women”.
For the members of the Escuela feminista para la Acción Climática (EFAC), this meeting was an important step in continuing the process of training, strengthening and exchange that began with the creation of the school in 2021.
Mariela Melgar Ibáñez, representative of the Colectivo de Mujeres del Chaco Americano, concludes that “the challenge is great to continue this struggle, this resistance, but accompanied. Together with all the women who have come to this meeting and with all those who could not come”.
*Photos: Angirü Bolivia
https://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Encuentro-EFAC-Bolivia-2024-Cintia-Mamani-Angiru-01.jpg10801920plurales1 Fundaciónhttps://www.plurales.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Plurales-logoFullcolor.pngplurales1 Fundación2024-08-21 22:50:092024-08-21 22:50:09“There are no borders in our women’s spaces”
Guaranteeing a seat at the table at COP30 for voices on the climate emergency’s frontlines
ORIGINAL POST FROM GLOBAL WITNESS
With Brazil’s president branding COP30 the “turnaround COP”, environmental defenders, Indigenous Peoples and other experts set out Host Country Agreement recommendations to meaningfully include climate frontline voices at the conference. Plurales has directly contributed to the development of these recommendations.
As Brazil prepares to host COP30 in Belém, expectations are high for it to rise to the occasion — not just as a venue, but as a global leader in shaping a democracy that benefits the environment.
Brazil’s recent political transformations and renewed commitment to inclusive governance offer a unique opportunity to set a precedent for how climate negotiations can and should be conducted.
Crucial to this moment is the Host Country Agreement (HCA) — a legal accord between the UNFCCC and the host government that establishes the terms for organising COP.
Recommendations for the Host Country Agreement guiding COP30
We have published some recommendations for how the HCA should work in practice below, so that environmental and human rights defenders, Indigenous Peoples, traditional communities, land and environmental defenders and other frontline groups are genuinely included in the negotiation spaces that affect them.
Over 140 organisations have endorsed these proposals, calling on the Brazilian government and the UNFCCC Secretariat to embed clear rights-based commitments into the HCA.
Summary of HCA recommendations
These recommendations outline specific legal, operational and procedural measures to be included in the COP30 Host Country Agreement. They are rooted in international human rights standards and lessons learned from past COPs.
Human rights protections
Explicit guarantee of rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, access to information and public participation
Non-retaliation clauses prohibiting surveillance, detention or reprisals against participants during or after the COP
Transparency and accountability
Mandatory disclosure of all sponsorships; bans on sponsorships from entities with environmentally harmful records
A conflict-of-interest policy requiring public declarations by organisers
Mechanisms to receive and respond to complaints of human rights violations
Observer access and civic space
Clear rules to ensure unrestricted access for observers to negotiation rooms
Publication of all requirements and deadlines for side-events and civil society participation
Security and legal support
Human rights training for security personnel; ban on excessive use of force
A rapid response protocol and legal aid system for at-risk defenders
Deployment of neutral observers to document abuses or threats
Digital and physical accessibility
Venues must be accessible to people with disabilities and offer family-friendly spaces
Virtual participation must be supported with high-quality technology infrastructure
Information must be available in multiple formats and languages
Visa and travel access
Free, fast and fair visa issuance, including e-visas and non-digital alternatives
Designation of a visa focal point and prohibition of discriminatory visa denials
Accommodation and affordability
Government coordination to provide affordable and safe lodging for participants, especially those from the Global South
Privacy and data protection
Prohibition of spyware and unlawful surveillance; strong safeguards for personal data of all participants
Full public disclosure of the agreement
The full text of the Host Country Agreement must be published immediately after signing, with no redactions related to civic freedoms or participation
By adopting these recommendations, Brazil can make COP30 a landmark event in the history of environmental negotiations – one where civil society is not only present but meaningfully heard.
*Image: Cícero Pedrosa Neto / Global Witness
Meeting with organizations selected in Fair Climate Solutions Fund with a Gender Perspective
On March 6 and 7 we had the great pleasure of meeting with representatives of all the projects supported by the first call of Fair Climate Solutions Fund with a Gender Perspective.
Let us remember that the context of alarming socio-environmental crisis prompted us to design new strategies that support and strengthen local communities and organizations through concrete tools and solutions to promote collective power from the territory. We became a Socio-Environmental Fund to contribute to strengthening the capacities of environmental activist organizations (OAS) from a gender and environmental justice perspective, in the fight against the climate crisis for the preservation of the environment.
During this meeting, in addition to evaluating the impact and procedure of the fund to improve practices, we created a space for analysis of the current situation and common strategies. Two days of hard work to socialize the experiences of each organization and strengthen and weave new networks.
In general the impact was positive and there were very good results. What stood out most was the flexibility of the fund that could be adapted on the fly to the real needs of the territory at that time, beyond its original destination. That was one of our main objectives because we have more than 20 years of work and we know that on many occasions interventions through the system of projects and programs are not enough to respond to the demands and needs for strengthening and impact of local, rural and indigenous communities and organizations.
Development aid and international cooperation projects impose very rigid institutional frameworks that are alien to realities; this is aggravated by their complex contextual conditions. That is why we want to work on the direct and flexible allocation of funds that strengthen the capacities of local communities to make decisions autonomously and carry out actions based on their practices and knowledge, adapted to their specific context.
Urgent Fund for Activists: Defensores de Tariquia
We are working with the Comité de Defensores de Tariquia Canton Chiquiaca, which since 2018 has protected the “Tariquia National Flora and Fauna Reserve” from the intention of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), with the transnational company PETROBRAS, to explore for the exploitation of hydrocarbon resources there.
The Committee, made up of community members from the ten communities that make up the Canton, in 2021 and with the intermediation of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights and the Ombudsman’s Office, managed to get them to stop the exploratory tasks. In October 2024, YPFB and PETROBRAS tried again and the Committee set up a blockade point in the Community of Zaican. On October 11, the Bolivian police used force against the blockade and YPFB filed a complaint with the Tarija Department Prosecutor’s Office against 30 members of the Committee for obstructing work (to date, the complaint has been extended to 7 more community members who have not yet been notified).
“This situation has weakened the Defense Committee and left it very afraid, since the presence of police at the blockade has caused YPFB personnel to continue gathering information. There is intimidation and harassment due to the presence of police, they take photographs, record videos and at night they harass the few people who remain at the blockade. There are many needs, including a lawyer who responds to the interests of the community members, who provides them with less technical and understandable information, who gives them the security that they are being represented and that there are national and international regulations that protect them. There is also a lack of food for the communal pot, flashlights and economic resources to move around. Given YPFB’s insistence on entering the area, it has divided the population by promising them work and economic resources from hydrocarbon exploitation”.
On October 15, the 10 communities of the Chiquiaca Canton met and held a vote by communal member to decide whether the companies would join. The result was 182 votes for “YES” and 292 for “NO.” The next day, YPFB launched an advertising spot announcing that the “yes” had won, confusing the population and distorting the information. Thus, on October 17, a commission from the Chiquiaca Canton held a press conference in Tarija announcing the democratic decision and handed out copies of the minutes of the meeting to different authorities such as the Government of the Department of Tarija, the Ombudsman’s Office, the Human Rights Assembly, YPFB, the Ministry of Environment and Water, the Police, the Municipality of Entre Ríos, among others.
Exploration at Domo Oso X3 continues and the companies argue that it is not within the Natural Reserve but next to it. This place is at the headwaters of water sources such as Quebrada el Oso and Quebrada de Zaican that feed the Chiquiaca River that runs through the 10 communities and joins the Tarija and Bermejo Rivers on the border with Argentina.
It is essential to care for those who care for us and to quickly support environmental activists and defenders in the face of personal or organizational emergency situations, consequences of the work they do every day, defending the territory and natural resources. Thus, through this Urgent Fund for Activists we will strengthen this Committee in Bolivia and continue to advance with this line of funding that is permanently open and linked to legal assistance, visibility and advocacy, protection and self-care measures, and relocation of Environmental Defenders and their families in emergency situations.
*Photos: Courtesy of Comité de Defensores de Tariquia Canton Chiquiaca
We promote the Red Latina Feminista por la Acción Climática
With the intention of thinking of a specific regional strategy that goes beyond the immediate context, we participated in COP 16 to think about COP30 towards the broader horizon of COP 31 and beyond.
In November 2021, we received the Gender-Just Climate Solutions Award from Women Engage for a Common Future (WECF), a high-level awards ceremony that has been held since 2015 during the annual global climate negotiations of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).
In addition to the recognition, the organizations that receive the recognition are invited to participate in the Women and Gender Constituent Group (WGC). It is one of the nine stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that was established in 2009 and is working to ensure that women’s voices and their rights are integrated into all processes and outcomes under the UNFCCC.
Latinas embodied
Within the WGC we promote the Latin Feminist Network for Climate Action to strengthen organizations in South America. In this framework, during the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP 16) we carried out the Juntanza Feminista WGC LAC, together with WGC and WEDO.
This moment was a valuable opportunity to “connect with feminists in the region, develop strategies and commit to shaping the debates and results of COP30 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change in 2025), while building long-term and high-impact collaborations within and outside feminist networks”.
We called on different organizations, not all of which were part of the WGC, but they do share its principles “to join the generation of a regionalization process that can take into account the particularities of each zone/region but above all unite the senses, common feelings”.
COP 29
The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 29) will be held from Monday 11 to Friday 22, 2024, in the city of Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, and Plurales will be participating as part of the Women and Gender Constituent Group.
The main topics of this Conference will be the progress in the new Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC), planned for 2025 (at COP28 it was clear that the new national climate commitments must be aligned with the goal of keeping the average global temperature below 1.5 °C). Second, financing for countries to adopt strong climate commitments.
This COP will bring together leaders from governments, businesses and civil society to address the climate crisis. Plurales will bring together the experiences of scalable feminist climate initiatives for a sustainable and fair future, where women’s equality and human rights are fundamental to all ongoing debates.
*Photos courtesy of Kit Huayas.
The Plurales Fund is already in action
This year we became a Fund and then launched the 1st call for Fair Climate Solutions with a Gender Perspective. Today we want to tell you which organizations were selected.
During 2024, the alarming context of social and economic crisis prompted us to design new strategies in our task of promoting collective power from the territory, which is why we became the PLURALES SOCIO-ENVIRONMENTAL FUND.
Now we are happy to tell you that we will be working together with V.U.D.A.S. (Vecinos Unidos en Defensa de un Ambiente Seguro), Mujeres Libres Del Norte Cordobés (MULINEC) and Fundeps (Fundación para el Desarrollo de Políticas Sustentables) from Córdoba. From Santiago del Estero are the Frente de Mujeres Salado Norte, TIU Chacra Parajes Unidos, members of the Comités de Género y Jóvenes de la Coalición Nacional por la Tierra (CNT ENI) Argentina and the Unión de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de la Tierra (UTT). Finally, Taller Flotante from Entre Ríos and Mujeres Sembrando Esperanza from Salta. All organizations are fighting against the climate crisis to preserve the environment.
We have more than 20 years of work in the field and we know that in many cases, interventions through the system of projects and programs are not enough to respond to the demands and needs of local, rural and indigenous communities and organizations. In addition, international aid projects impose very rigid institutional frameworks that are alien to territorial realities. This is aggravated by the complex contextual conditions of the communities.
Within this framework, we have added ten new projects that will strengthen communities through the mobilization of flexible resources. These organizations will make decisions autonomously and carry out actions based on their practices and knowledge, adapted to their specific context.
You too can promote fair socio-environmental practices. Contribute to enhance the collective power of the territories.
Present at COP16
From October 21 to November 1, Santiago de Cali, Colombia, will host the United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP 16). Plurales will be participating in the meeting in general and promoting two events and a campaign in particular.
As part of the Plataforma Defensoras y Defensores de la Tierra y el Territorio, we will travel to Cali to participate with 35 environmental defenders from Peru, Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Ecuador, Guatemala, Brazil, Bolivia, Honduras and Paraguay.
It will be the first COP on biodiversity since the adoption of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework at COP 15, held in December 2022 in Montreal, Canada. This agreement has the 30×30 objective: to stop and reverse the loss of biodiversity by protecting 30% of the land surface and 30% of the marine environment by 2030.
Environmental Defenders, our protagonists
On Tuesday, October 22, we will be part of the Film Forum: “Women on the front line: a regional agenda for biodiversity and land rights”. During this event, two documentaries will be screened that portray the struggles and stories of defense and resistance from the territories in Colombia and Argentina.
On the one hand, the documentary “Reflejos” (Colombia, 2024) will be presented by Weisny Yireth Velaides, member of Fundación Mujer, Amazonía y Paz (Funmapaz), from Caquetá. On the other hand, Débora Sajama, from the Coalición Nacional por la Tierra ENI – Argentina and from the Aboriginal Community of Casa Grande, Vizcarra and El Portillo, from El Aguilar, Jujuy, will present “Litio, qué hay detrás de la Reforma” (Argentina, 2023).
On Wednesday 23rd, together with Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN – IUCN SUR – IUCN NL – ORMACC), the Peruvian Society of Environmental Law (SPDA), the CBD Women’s Caucus (CBD WC), ECO Maxei and the Encuentro de Juventudes por Escazú (ENJUVES), we organized the event “Empowering women environmental defenders: territorial strategies with a gender perspective from Latin America relevant to monitoring the Global Biodiversity Framework”.
When: Wednesday 23/10, 18 (Colombia time)
Where: Cano Cristales – CEE – Plaza Uno meeting room – Cali, Colombia and also online live
Interpretation into Spanish and English.
“Women have a central role in the conservation of biodiversity”, with this premise and with the help of UN Women, environmental defenders from Argentina, Guatemala and Ecuador and coordinator of the CBD Women’s Caucus, “we will explore what strategies can be implemented to monitor compliance with the Global Biodiversity Framework from a gender perspective”.
On the 24th we will participate in “Guardians of the Rights of Mother Nature”. Nicolás Avellaneda, member of Plurales, will be with Erick Pajares, Executive Director of CIMA – Cordillera Azul (Peru), Ketty Marcelo, President of ONAMIAP (Peru), Simón Crisóstomo, Citizen Observatory (Chile) and Josefina Tunki, TICCA Network (Chile).
The objective of this activity is “to make known and reflect on the struggle for the recognition of the rights of Mother Nature as a position that allows the integral conservation of ecosystems, cultures and the interdependent relationships between them, through the presentation of cases where this has already occurred and the discussion of its limitations and scope”.
We will also be part of the Women and Gender Constituent (WGC), one of the nine official stakeholder groups of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It was created in 2009 and is currently made up of more than 50 civil society organizations and networks of women and environmentalists.
“The objective of the LAC-WGC will be to amplify the voice, concerns, contexts and demands of women’s organizations and collectives in all their diversity, non-binary people, feminists and activists who come together for gender justice and who are articulated for the region, working at the intersection with climate change. This regional node also aims to strengthen political advocacy, particularly in the multilateral space of the UNFCCC and climate-related processes in Latin America and the Caribbean, to develop, reflect on and promote common positions that are part of the Women and Gender Constituent (WGC)”.
In the meantime, you can find us at the stand of the Socio-Environmental Alliance Funds of the South, in the Green Zone and at the International Land Coalition (ILC) stand in the Blue Zone.
Jujuy’s environmental defense at COP 16
In the context of this event, we want to make visible, raise awareness and influence the process of land dispossession through extractivism, the energy transition and the use of constitutional reform in Jujuy, Argentina.
Thus, through the campaign “Let’s defend Jujuy: no to energy transition without rights” we will be making visible the case of Jujuy with lithium and the unconstitutional reform of the province to increase extraction. We will spread the word about the energy transition and what it means to put it into practice through the increase of violent extractivism in local and indigenous communities and we will position the need for land governance centered on the people who inhabit it and their role in the conservation of biodiversity.
For Plurales, it is important to participate in these types of international events, but fundamentally to promote the participation and influence of organizations from the territories with which we work. These global spaces do not always take the direction we expect. Even so, we believe that opening debates and disputes at these levels of influence is still viable and allows us to make other worlds possible and not just the one that a few try to impose on us.
Climate finance and a fossil-free future
The 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference (November 11-22) is approaching and the just energy transition is increasingly critical for climate action. The upcoming United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the UN Future Summit and the World Summit on Renewable Energy, all to be held in September, are a fundamental opportunity for our historic demands.
In this context, Plurales joined the Campaign for the Global Week of Action for Climate Finance and a Fossil-Free Future. It is from September 13 to 20 and includes virtual and in-person activities to demand “a radical transformation of our social, economic and political systems (…) Together, let us raise our voices to demand that governments in the Global North stop making empty promises and pandering to corporations to perpetuate fossil fuels. They must fulfill their climate finance obligations in full. They must play their part in national and international actions to ensure a gradual, rapid, fair, feminist and funded elimination of fossil fuels”.
It started on Friday 13 September with over 150 events spanning more than 50 countries on all continents. It closes on the 20th with an invitation to flood the streets. “Governments in the Global North must listen to the people who are rising up, demanding at least $5 trillion a year. The continued denial of obligations is unacceptable. Adequate, public, debt-free climate finance for mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and a just energy transition is urgently needed.”
PayUp Climate Finance
“For decades, governments in the Global North have consistently failed to do their fair share of climate action, both nationally and internationally. This fair share includes delivering climate finance to the Global South, an obligation they committed to as parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. Climate finance is also part of reparations for the climate debt they owe to the peoples of the South for the historic and ongoing damages caused by their disproportionately large contributions to the climate crisis”.
They denounce that so far the total climate finance “is a pittance compared to the trillions of dollars needed to finance the climate needs and priorities of the peoples and countries of the Global South (for mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage, and a just and equitable transition)”.
“Despite agreed climate targets and massive warnings from climate scientists, governments in the Global North are colluding with tax-dodging elites and polluting corporations to expand fossil fuel extraction and production”. We know that a rapid, equitable and just transition to renewable energy systems is urgently needed and we continue to demand it.
“There are no borders in our women’s spaces”
The 2nd Encuentro Latinoamericano de Defensoras Ambientales para la Acción Climática took place from 16 to 18 August in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia. Organised by Plurales, Colectivo CASA and Tierra Viva, it brought together more than 40 women from 30 organisations from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico and El Salvador.
This space contributes to strengthening and promoting alliances between organisations of environmental, peasant, indigenous, Afro-descendant and marginalised urban defenders in Latin America, to carry out collective actions in defence of territories, share advocacy strategies, make visible and strengthen the initiatives they carry out for gender and climate justice.
Marisol Angulo, a member of the Red Ecuatoriana de Forestería Análoga (REFA), participated in the meeting and says that “we found it very energizing to share experiences, to listen to colleagues who have the same problem. We may have limits in the territories where we live in each country, but there are no limits in our spaces as women where we work, because the needs are the same, they are identical. Here we have already found the tools to continue the feminist struggle against climate change in our spaces”.
Why the Encuentro?
At present, the structural inequalities suffered by rural, indigenous, Afro-descendant and impoverished urban women are being exacerbated by the climate crisis, the global economic crisis, the adjustment policies of Latin American states, the growing concentration of power of financial capital and the advance of extractivism on natural resources, elements that only continue to sustain, perpetuate and deepen the current capitalist system.
Extractive industries, mining, oil, agribusiness, among others, seriously damage natural resources and have serious consequences for the health, food security, productive activities and permanence in the territories of women, girls and young people. Floods, droughts and the frequency of other natural disasters make the climate crisis a reality today more than ever, with serious and differentiated impacts on the lives of peasant and indigenous communities, but especially on women and girls, who have historically taken on the tasks of care, reproduction and maintenance of life.
Added to this is the imbalance of power in which communities, and women in particular, defend their lands, territories and common goods, putting their own lives at risk, in addition to providing for them on a daily basis. Physical, psychological, political, patrimonial, sexual and environmental violence multiply within this patriarchy with multiple faces: religious, institutional, state, extractive and even humanitarian.
As in the 1st EFAC Encuentro, a statement was produced collectively, carrying the voices of all these women and their territories, and will soon be shared publicly. In the meantime, we invite you to see the declaration of the 1st meeting.
Clara Merino Serrano, of the Luna Creciente collective from Ecuador, explains that “it seems to me that this is a step, but we must continue to create units of women from the territories in very serious times, when we are experiencing great setbacks of the capitalist, patriarchal and colonial against our people and especially against us women”.
For the members of the Escuela feminista para la Acción Climática (EFAC), this meeting was an important step in continuing the process of training, strengthening and exchange that began with the creation of the school in 2021.
Mariela Melgar Ibáñez, representative of the Colectivo de Mujeres del Chaco Americano, concludes that “the challenge is great to continue this struggle, this resistance, but accompanied. Together with all the women who have come to this meeting and with all those who could not come”.
*Photos: Angirü Bolivia