Photo: Dejusticia

Youth for the Amazon: The initiative that achieved the declaration of the Colombian Amazon as a subject of rights.
Dejusticia
2018-2019

Themes: Climate Change, Strategic Litigation, Youth Activism, Deforestation.

My role: Strategic Communicator, Campainer, Social Media Manager.

Language: Spanish and English

On April 5, 2018, the Colombian Supreme Court of Justice issued a ruling requiring the State to protect the Colombian Amazon from deforestation. This decision was in response to a lawsuit filed by a group of 25 children and young people who, with the support of Dejusticia, had complained to the State for failing to guarantee their rights to life and a healthy environment It was the first Lawsuit on Climate Change and Future Generations in Latin America.

As the strategic communicator in charge, I pushed for the demand to be recognized nationally as an urgent initiative and to gain significant support from Colombia's young population.

Our comprehensive plan consisted of forging alliances with networks of young activists for the Climate Crisis, such as Fridays for Future. We devised a thorough digital campaign to publicize the demand and effectively disseminated it through Colombia's major media outlets. We collected more than 160,000 signatures from citizens. We also built coalitions with other environmental organizations and trained the young plaintiffs, honing their skills as spokespeople.

The plaintiffs argued that the government's failure to stop the destruction of the Amazon endangered their future and violated their constitutional rights to a healthy environment, life, food and water.

Our communications campaign transformed the lawsuit into a focal point of national news coverage, driven by our strategic alliances with influential individuals. The resounding support from Colombians led the judges to conduct a more thorough review of the case, which ultimately led to the court's recognition of the Colombian Amazon as a "rights-holding entity." This groundbreaking designation means that the rainforest has been endowed with the same legal rights as a human being.

Some of the international press covering:
https://www.dw.com/en/colombias-top-court-orders-government-to-protect-amazon-for-future-generations/a-43288343

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/mar/20/can-climate-litigation-save-the-world

https://news.trust.org/item/20180129171256-pp1ym/

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/the-kids-who-sued-the-colombian-government-and-won/14ykdx77i?cid=newsapp%253Asocialshare%253Awhatsapp

In partnership with Lanscapes for Hope, in September 2019, we held an event in the Colombian Amazon to disseminate among young Amazonian audiences the Court's ruling that gave rights to the Amazon.

Angélica Cuevas

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