In the month that marks the struggle of women, the first episode of the second season of the audio bulletin produced by ISA hears from civil society activists and indigenous, quilombola and extractivist leaders.
In the wake of the celebrations of March 8, International Women's Day, the Socioenvironmental Institute (ISA) launches this Friday (28/03) the second season of “Voices of the Climate”, audio bulletin which aims to bring information to traditional peoples and communities on topics related to the climate agenda. The first episode of 2025 concludes this month's activities, bringing women leaders' perspectives on COP30 (United Nations Climate Change Conference), which will be held in November in Belém, Pará.
Guardians of the city, the countryside, the forests, and the waters, they are on the front lines of concrete actions to combat the effects of climate change and, therefore, have much to say about their expectations for COP30. Furthermore, they can point out which alternatives Brazil should adopt to ensure respect for the ways of life of traditional peoples and communities and the most vulnerable populations in the city's peripheries and favelas.
In this episode, "Voices of the Climate" interviewed Letícia Moraes, vice president of the National Council of Extractive Populations (CNS); Cristiane Julião, an Indigenous member of the Pankararu people and one of the founders of the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry (Anmiga); Fran Paula, a quilombola member of the Environment and Agriculture Working Group of the National Coordination of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (CONAQ); Amanda Costa, a climate activist and founder of the Perifa Sustainable Institute; Suely Araujo, Public Policy Coordinator at the Climate Observatory; and Adriana Ramos, executive secretary of ISA. All spoke about the need for COP30 to recognize the demands of traditional peoples and communities and, thus, identify effective actions that support the most affected populations, especially women.
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“Our address is the fight”
"Spaces like COPs are spaces that still lack sufficient or minimal effective participation from traditional peoples and communities who can raise demands and present the solutions we've already experienced in our territories. And speaking specifically about the demands of women extractivists for COP 30, we will certainly emphasize the need to defend and strengthen our territories as an essential strategy for protecting life on the planet," emphasizes Letícia Moraes, vice president of the CNS.
The extractivist leader, who comes from the Nossa Senhora da Boa Esperança community, located in Curralinho, in the Marajó region of Pará, brought to the episode a poem of his own, highlighting those who are in the daily struggle for territorial and climate protection.
Who are we? We are men and women, children, youth, adults, and elders. We are the sons and daughters of the forest. Mother rubber tree, mother chestnut tree, we are the blood of the Amazon, açaí, bacaba, patao, and miridi. We are the body of cassava, tapioca flour, crueira, fruit of the earth, of the hands that plant, cultivate, and water. We are the territory.
For a long time, we were the others, and our struggle guaranteed us a place in the Constitution. That's why we are also millions and thousands. Extractive reserves, extractive settlement projects, sustainable development projects. National Forests (FLONAS), fleets. We are the extractive territory. Seed of resistance, grandchildren of the caboclo ancestry. We are the voices that echo. We are the extractivists.
We are millions of thousands whose address is the fight”.
Listen to all episodes of "Voices of the Climate"
The crisis has a color, gender and address
Although they are directly linked to actions to combat the climate crisis, women are the most affected by it.
According to the report "Feminist Climate Justice: A Framework for Action," prepared by UN Women in 2023, if the three-degree global temperature increase scenario materializes, more than 158 million women and girls will be pushed into poverty by 2050—16 million more than the expected number of men and boys under the same scenario. Furthermore, 236 million women and girls could experience food insecurity—131 million more than the expected number of men and boys.
Quilombola Fran Paula hopes that COP30 will also consider this intersectionality and advance the promotion of racial justice. "They are protagonists in the processes of territorial sovereignty. Whether in the defense of these territories, their environmental management, their natural resources, water, and forests, but also in their stewardship. We women are the ones who manage the land and the forests. We make agriculture an ancestral space, also a guardian of traditional and ecological practices that conserve the soil, the environment, and promote health and life."
Cristiane Julião also hopes that indigenous women will be effectively heard, at a time when Brazil and the world are stopping to debate the various environmental, economic and social problems arising from the climate crisis.
"I firmly believe that we women must arrive at this Conference, for those who attend and those who stay, with the strength and courage of Indigenous women, about how we maintain our territories, maintain our connections, maintain our willpower, and how we believe in what a good life is. A good life for all, in maintaining sociobiodiversity, in sharing ecosystems, because those on the outside always think they know what's best for us without listening to us," she emphasizes.
Valuing ancestral and anti-racist knowledge of the territories
According to the leaders interviewed by "Voices of Climate," strengthening territories involves fighting for public policies that guarantee the autonomy of the groups living there, access to essential services, and land tenure security. These measures are essential for Indigenous peoples, quilombolas, traditional communities, and populations living in the outskirts and favelas of cities to develop actions to confront the impacts of the climate emergency and enable them to continue their conservation-oriented ways of life.
With these challenges in mind, Amanda Costa, climate activist and founder of the Perifa Sustentável Institute, states that COP 30 needs to connect the international, global debate with what's happening locally.
"It is crucial to value traditional, ancestral, anti-racist, and decolonial knowledge, bringing solutions to these territories, but also strengthening communities that have long resisted and developed their own solutions, their own paths, their own possibilities, but that often lack resources, connections, and opportunities to increase the impact of their actions and expand the political transformation project already being developed in their territories."
What is “Voices of Climate”?
The audio bulletin “Voices of the Climate” is a project by ISA, produced by the podcast producer Bamm Mídia and supported by Environmental Defense Fund (EDF). The visual identity was created by Indigenous designers and illustrators Kath Matos and Wanessa Ribeiro. In addition to being distributed via WhatsApp and Telegram, the program can also be heard on the audio platforms Spotify, iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Podcast Addict, Castbox, and Deezer.
The first episode of 2025 opens the second season of “Voices of Climate,” which will have a total of 12 editions and will address the various debates on climate and socio-environmentalism.
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