Este 20 de septiembre, las calles de Nueva York, Estados Unidos, recibieron las voces de más de trescientas mil personas que exigieron acciones climáticas urgentes. Una delegación de la Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques (AMPB) se unió a la marcha para reclamar derechos comunitarios a los bosques ancestrales, una solución comprobada para el cambio climático.

"We are in the march for the climate, the indigenous leaders who have been working for years for the Earth are supporting an initiative of young people who have decided to put their strength and energy, and we are joining. We have a global pandemic: they are destroying more and more of our forests and they are also attacking the people who protect them," said Levi Sucre, Coordinator of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests.

The Mesoamerican delegation is participating together with its peers from the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), the Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) and Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) of Indonesia. Grouped under the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, they represent more than 20 million people who manage a third of the world's tropical forests.

Jóvenes de las cuatro regiones marcharon a la cabeza de la marcha en Nueva York. Militza Flaco, joven Emberá de Panamá, participó por parte de la AMPB y asiste a una serie de eventos de juventud durante la Semana del Clima.

Indigenous and local community representation in New York this week argues that the United Nations (UN) can turn to its own scientists for evidence to support their claims, citing the recent IPCC report on climate change that for the first time presented strong land rights for indigenous peoples and local communities as a solution to the climate crisis.

«Los gobiernos mundiales y el sector privado han fallado en sus promesas de dejar de destruir los bosques tropicales de los que dependemos para proteger los alimentos, la medicina y el bienestar de nuestras familias», dijo Tuntiak Katan, Coordinador de la Alianza Global. “Estamos cansados ​​de anuncios vagos que no llegan a ninguna parte. Las comunidades forestales indígenas y locales son las únicas que cumplen nuestras promesas, pero ahora queremos actuar”, afirmó.

The Alliance will participate this week in the official activities of the UN Climate Action Summit, as well as in a series of side events.

Photographs by Rachel Elkind