BALI, INDONESIA – July 22, 2025 – From July 22–25, 2025, over 50 young leaders from Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities across Asia, Africa, and Latin America will gather in Bali, Indonesia, for the first-ever Global Youth Forum (GYF)—a historic convening aimed at strengthening the leadership, solidarity, and global impact of youth defenders of Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community rights to lands and natural resources.

Hosted by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), in partnership with the Indonesian youth organization, Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN), and the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) –which represents 15 million individuals from Indigenous communities across Indonesia, the GYF will bring together youth human rights defenders from 27 countries*. 

These defenders represent a diverse array of frontline communities who live and protect  ecosystems that are crucial in the face of climate change, such as the Amazon, the Congo Basin and the Borneo-Mekon Southeast Asia region. Check the agenda here. 

“Our very presence, as Indigenous youth, (represents) healing and resistance,” shared a member of the Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon (CONFENIAE),Ecuador.

These youth are the next generation of guardians of the world’s forests and traditional lands. Yet they face barriers including limited access to decision-making spaces, unequal access to resources, and fragmented advocacy efforts. This Forum offers a transformative space to address these challenges and collectively chart a new path forward and prepare for the COP 30 discussions that are going to take place in Bélem, Brasíl, this November. 

“If I give up, my culture will be extinct by the next generation,” said Nedine Sulu, an Indigenous youth leader from Minahasa, Indonesia.

The GYF marks a new chapter in youth-led advocacy, convening powerful voices from organizations such as the Asia Young Indigenous Peoples Network (AYIPN), the Kenya Indigenous Youth Network, the Brazil’s Quilombola youth from the Coordenação Nacional de Articulação das Comunidades Negras Rurais Quilombolas (CONAQ) –, representatives from the Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques (AMPB), and the Network of Indigenous and Local Populations for the Sustainable Management of Forest Ecosystems in Central Africa (REPALEAC). 

During the event, the youth leaders will build on regional processes that have taken place since 2023, including the development of the 2023 Youth Manifesto in Latin America, the Youth Solidarity Workshop in Asia, and the groundwork for a national Indigenous youth network in DRC.

“Indigenous youth are custodians of traditional knowledge, which is key to climate solutions,” said Kehsen Aishatou, Indigenous Youth Representative from Cameroon.

Participants will also engage in intergenerational dialogues with respected elders and human rights leaders in the community rights space, including:

• Rene Ngongo (DRC), environmental defender who received the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2009 for courage in confronting forces destroying Congo’s forests and for supporting conservation and sustainable use of resources.
• Solange Bandiaky-Badji  (US,Senegal), Coordinator and President of RRI, she previously led RRI’s Africa and Gender Justice Programs.
• Jenifer Lasimbang (Malaysia), head of the Indigenous Peoples of Asia Solidarity Fund
• Rukka Sombolinggi, Secretary General of AMAN and longtime Indigenous youth rights advocate.
• Dario Solano, who coordinates the Dominican Network of Afro-Descendant Studies and Empowerment or Red Afros in the Dominican Republic.

As the world seeks solutions to the climate crisis, Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and local community youth must lead the way—not just as future leaders, but as present-day visionaries and protectors of their territories, cultures, and ancestral knowledge. The Global Youth Forum is a call to action for governments, donors, and international organizations to recognize, resource, and uplift the voices and leadership of these communities.

*Delegates will represent countries including: Africa: Cameroon, Kenya, Liberia, Chad, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). Asia: Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, India, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar. Latin America: Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil.

More information at: https://rightsandresources.org/event/global-youth-forum-2025/

Media Contact:

• Daiana González Navas,  Strategic Communications| Rights and Resources Initiative| [email protected] | +1 4404880770.
• Sabba Rani Maharjan, Asia Youth Convenor | Rights and Resources Initiative|[email protected] |+977 9818840243
• Cindy Yohana (Ndada Nggole) | Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN, The Indigenous Youth of the Archipelago)| [email protected] |+6282125522390

About the Rights and Resources Initiative:

The Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI) is a global coalition of 21 partners and over 200 collective rightsholders’ organizations and their allies working to advance the land and resource rights of Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities. Through research, convening, and direct support, RRI helps shift power and resources to those who protect the world’s most critical ecosystems. For more information, visit www.rightsandresources.org.

About the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN – Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago)

AMAN is an independent community organisation whose members are communities of Indigenous Peoples from diverse natives of the Archipelago. AMAN was declared pursuant to a longstanding historical construction of Indigenous Peoples’ movements in Indonesia. Since the mid 1980s there has been new awareness within the non-government organisations (NGO) and social scientists on the widespread negative developmental impacts on all groups of Indonesian society.

About Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN)
BPAN, or the Indigenous Youth Front of the Archipelago, is an autonomous organization of Indigenous Youth in Indonesia, founded in 2012. As a youth wing of AMAN, BPAN serves as a platform for uniting Indigenous Youth, fostering regeneration, and building capacity. BPAN promotes solidarity and shared aspirations across different levels, encourages creative and economic independence, and develops Indigenous education rooted in traditional knowledge and values.