Uniting Indigenous, local community, Afro-descendant, and allied youth for climate justice
At the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC COP31), the RRI Global Youth Network is bringing together young leaders from Indigenous, local communities, Afro-descendant, and allied youth groups across Asia, Africa and Latin America!
The youth-led solidarity network, launched by the global RRI coalition in 2025, works to build solidarity and collective action by youth on climate justice, biodiversity conservation and tenure security.
Building on its Global Youth Roadmap and Youth Climate Justice Statement issued last year at COP30 in Brazil, the network will once again bring young people’s experiences and calls for action into this year’s global climate conversations.
Here are five calls to action our youth are bringing to Antalya!
1. Recognise Indigenous Peoples, local communities, and Afro-Descendant Peoples as rights-holders and leaders in climate action.
Naomi, an Indigenous youth leader from the Sengwer community from Kenya from Kenya, calls for the recognition of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and leadership in climate and conservation decisions: “Decisions made at COP31 will decide whether my community stays on its ancestral land or is pushed off it in the name of conservation. Indigenous Peoples must be recognized as rights-holders and leaders in climate action. Where our rights are secure, forests stand, and biodiversity thrives. There is no climate justice without Indigenous Peoples’ rights.”
2. Protect ancestral territories and stop dispossession.
Elisabeth Simanjuntak, an Indigenous youth leader from the Opung Ronggur Simanjuntak Community in Indonesia, calls on governments and stakeholders to strengthen legal protections for Indigenous Peoples’ ancestral lands: “We call on governments, world leaders, and all stakeholders to stop the seizure of Indigenous territories in the name of investment. Strengthen legal protections for Indigenous Peoples. Recognize, protect, and respect our rights to our ancestral lands. Protecting forests means protecting life and the future of the Earth.”
3. Recognise, Advance and finance youth-led climate action
Young people are already leading initiatives and developing solutions rooted in their territories and knowledge. Their leadership must be recognised, and their initiatives must have access to direct, flexible and sustained financial support.
Alejandra, an Afro-descendant youth leader from Ecuador, emphasises:“We are not merely communities affected by the climate crisis. We are leaders of initiatives and solutions built on our territories and knowledge. The world must recognize our leadership, respect our territorial rights, and fund youth-led climate action. There is no climate justice without racial and territorial justice.”
4. Ensure Indigenous Peoples, Local Communities and Afro – Descendants shape decisions about their futures
Cindy Yohana, a Wairasa Indigenous community leader from Indonesia and the first ever youth member on RRI’s Board of Directors, reminds us that decisions made at COP31 will have lasting consequences for Indigenous territories, communities and future generations: “COP31 matters because the future being negotiated there is the future of my people, my community, and my ancestral territories. The next generations deserve a living and healthy Mother Earth. I refuse to accept a future where Indigenous lands, Indigenous women’s bodies, and Indigenous Peoples’ lives are sacrificed for someone else’s profit and power. Our future is not yours to decide.”
5. Turn climate promises into meaningful action and accountability
Sabba Rani Maharjan, an Indigenous Youth leader from Nepal’s Newar community and RRI’s Asia Youth Convenor, brings attention to the human lives behind climate commitments and the urgency of acting on them:“Somewhere in every community we work with, there is an empty chair now. A parent, a neighbour, or a friend taken by a climate disaster they did nothing to cause. We carry those chairs with us into COP31. Every promise made in these rooms should be measured against them, and every delay should have to look them in the eye.”
Moving from Recognition to Advancing: Financing youth-led climate action
Across Asia, Africa and Latin America, young people are leading initiatives to protect their territories, defend their rights, conserve biodiversity and respond to the climate crisis. Yet they continue to face barriers to meaningful participation, recognition, partnerships and access to the resources needed to sustain their work.
At COP31, the RRI Global Youth Network will create space for them to join these conversations, through a side event, “Financing Youth-Led Climate Action: Indigenous, Local Community, Afro-descendant and Allied Youth at COP31.” This dialogue will bring together youth-led initiatives, funders, philanthropic organisations, governments, partners and other climate actors to explore how financing, partnerships and other forms of support can strengthen and sustain youth-led climate action.
It will also provide an opportunity for young leaders to share their own initiatives, experiences and priorities with Parties to the COP, while building new connections across regions and constituencies. The conversation will build on the Global Youth Roadmap and the Youth Climate Justice Statement, both launched by the Network last year. Financing Youth Initiatives was identified as one of the five priority areas in the Roadmap, while the Statement calls for direct, transparent and accountable climate financing that reaches communities, young people, women and Indigenous Peoples.
Building solidarity beyond COP31
For Archana Soreng, an Indigenous youth leader from Khadia Tribe, India who convenes the Global Youth Network, the network’s strength lies in building solidarity across diverse movements and turning shared priorities into collective action: “Our strength lies in coming together across regions, movements and identities, while respecting the distinct realities of our communities. Through the RRI Global Youth Network, we want to build connections, learn from one another and turn solidarity into collective action. At COP31, we hope to strengthen our collective voice and build the partnerships, support and momentum needed to carry this work forward beyond the conference.”
This blog post is authored by the young leaders of the RRI Global Youth Network and curated by Sabba Rani Maharjan, Asia Youth Convenor, RRI, and Archana Soreng, Global Youth Convenor, RRI.
