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 closes this month's actions, bringing the perspective of female leaders on COP30 (United Nations Conference on Climate Change), which will be held in November, in Belém (PA).
Guardians of the city, the countryside, the forests and the waters, they are on the front line of concrete actions to combat the effects of climate change and, therefore, have a lot to say about what they expect from COP30. In addition, they can point out which alternatives Brazil should adopt to guarantee respect for the ways of life of traditional peoples and communities and the most vulnerable populations in the outskirts and favelas of cities.
In this episode, “Voices of the Climate” interviewed Letícia Moraes, vice president of the National Council of Extractive Populations (CNS); Cristiane Julião, an indigenous woman from the Pankararu people and one of the founders of the National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry (Anmiga); Fran Paula, a quilombola who is part of the Environment and Agriculture Working Group of the National Coordination for the Articulation of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (Conaq); Amanda Costa, a climate activist and founder of the Perifa Sustentável Institute; Suely Araujo, Public Policy Coordinator at the Climate Observatory; and Adriana Ramos, executive secretary of ISA. All of them brought up in their speeches the need for COP30 to recognize the demands of traditional peoples and communities and, thus, point out effective actions that support the most affected populations, especially women.
Listen here!
“Our address is the fight”
“Spaces like COPs are spaces that still do not have much involvement, or there is minimal effective participation from traditional peoples and communities that can present demands and solutions that we have 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,” highlights 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, in 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 the struggle guaranteed us a place in the Constitution. That is why we are also millions and thousands. Extractive reserves, extractive settlement projects, sustainable development projects. National Forests, fleets. We are the extractive territory. Seed of resistance, grandchildren of the indigenous 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 ones most affected by it.
According to the report Feminist Climate Justice: A Framework for Action, prepared by UN Women in 2023, if the scenario of a three-degree increase in the planet's temperature comes to fruition, more than 158 million women and girls will be forced into poverty by 2050 – 16 million more than the number expected for men and boys in the same scenario. In addition, 236 million women and girls could suffer from food insecurity – 131 million more than the number expected among men and boys.
Quilombola Fran Paula hopes that COP30 will also consider this intersectionality and advance in the promotion of racial justice. “They are protagonists in the processes of territorial sovereignty. Whether in the defense of these territories, in their environmental management, of their natural assets, water, forests, but also in their management. We women are the ones who manage the land, the forests. We make agriculture also an ancestral space for guardians of traditional and ecological practices, which preserve the soil, which preserve the environment, which 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 resulting from the climate crisis.
“I strongly 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 it means to live well. Living well for everyone, in maintaining sociobiodiversity, in sharing ecosystems, because those who are on the outside always think they know what is best for us without listening to us,” she emphasizes.
Valuing ancestral and anti-racist knowledge of the territories
According to the leaders interviewed by “Vozes do Clima”, strengthening territories involves fighting for public policies that guarantee the autonomy of the groups living in them, access to essential services and land security. These measures are essential for indigenous peoples, quilombolas and traditional communities, and populations living in the outskirts and favelas of cities to develop actions to confront the impacts of the climate emergency and to enable them to continue their ways of life that generate conservation.
Thinking about these challenges, Amanda Costa, climate activist and founder of the Perifa Sustentável Institute, states that COP 30 needs to make the connection between the international, global debate and what happens in the territories.
“It is extremely important to value traditional, ancestral, anti-racist and decolonial knowledge, bringing solutions to these territories, but also strengthening communities that have long resisted and have been developing their own solutions, their own paths, their own possibilities, but that often cannot obtain resources, connections, or opportunities to increase the impact of their actions and expand the political transformation project that is already being developed in their territories.”
What is “Climate Voices”?
The “Vozes do Clima” audio bulletin is produced 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 the Climate”, which will have a total of 12 editions and will address the various debates on climate and socio-environmentalism.
Loading