Created in 2018 by four Brazilian women, the Youth Climate Leaders (YCL) offers solutions to two of the main challenges of this century: the climate crisis and structural unemployment. At YCL, young people are trained, qualified, empowered and connected with networks and opportunities to build a career in the area of climate and sustainability. This is because the organization believes that it is possible to catalyze the professional insertion of young people through climate education and by bridging the gap with organizations that already operate in the sector, thus generating greater knowledge and information on the topic.
In this sense, the Climathon, carried out in partnership with UNLEASH and supported by PPA, was a program that had the main objective of mobilizing and empowering young people in the Amazon region to lead solutions that could address local bioeconomic challenges, promote justice and forest conservation. Through the program, young people gained innovative tools and skills, while developing initiatives that can be presented to relevant stakeholders and can address the challenges of climate change and biodiversity.
With the aim of contributing with ideas that strengthen the bioeconomy and sustainable development of the Amazon, PPA has carried out – within the scope of the campaign Paths to the Amazon – the “Portfolio Learnings” section. In this activity, spokespeople from initiatives supported by the Platform are interviewed. In the first interview of the series, Karla Braga (UN Youth Ambassador, Environmental Engineer and Climathon Organizer for Youth Climate Leaders) and Joseph Kãdeyruya (Leader of the Ka'Pa Puyanawa idea, one of the winners of Climathon) to discuss the initiative and the importance of supporting ideas from local youth, to strengthen businesses in the early stages that address solutions to Amazonian challenges.
Check out the full interview below:
Karla, you are a sanitation and environmental engineer and a member of several participatory forums, including the United Nations, COJOVEM and other important bodies. How do you think your experience contributed to the structuring of the Youth Climate Leaders (YCL) Climathon? What was it like for you to get involved in organizing this initiative?
Karla: Getting involved in Climathon was, above all, a way of strengthening not only myself, but also the young people I connected with throughout the initiative. In addition to my role as organizer, I also took on the role of mobilizer, engaging people and inviting them to participate. We were able to have a broad reach for Climathon precisely because we had access to this network of forums.
These opportunities do not always exist for young people. It is a great movement to break this bubble so that we can enter these spaces, not only debating these issues, but also being heard and having the opportunity to share our points of view for the construction of our territories. We cannot separate young people from these territories, mainly because we are not the future, we are the present. All of this has contributed a lot to me as an organizer, mobilizer and articulator in the Amazon territories.
PPA: Jósimo, you were the leader of the Ka'Pa Puyanawa idea, one of the solutions awarded during the last Climathon, which is an income generation program based on corn cultivation in an agroforestry system. The goal is to promote food sovereignty for the Puyanawa people, but how did this idea come about? Can you share with us a little about your journey and identity with this culture?
Josimo: I am from an indigenous people that I consider to be very small. We suffered a great extermination of our traditional practices. Today, as an indigenous anthropologist, I delve deeper into our true roots and cultural elements. Since I was a child, my father always told me some stories, among them the one about corn. Back in the 80s and 90s, my father and others were big corn producers here. We held some meetings and celebrations with corn. For some time now, corn has completely disappeared. I proposed this idea, called Ka'Pa Puyanawa, with the goal of recovering this memory, this knowledge, these traditional techniques of how the Puyanawa people grow corn. Within this story, there are two other pillars. The first is to promote food sovereignty, because today we are very dependent on cities. And also, the generation of income within the people themselves. We still have a lot of knowledge, many talented people, who are learning a little about this memory and history. This is the first project that I am developing with the young people of my people, who were not familiar with this story. They are now concerned about this. Corn is not just a rescue, there are other factors involved. I also see that they want to work on this issue of income generation.
One of our members will attend the YCL course. This is a way of giving back and doing something for my people. Without a shadow of a doubt, Climathon came to contribute to this autonomy and give this protagonism. This means the survival of a people, the survival of a history.
PPA: We know that Climathon and Youth Climate Leaders are primarily focused on young people. From your perspective, how important is it for young people to lead the generation of innovative solutions that promote the Amazon bioeconomy and forest conservation? What have YCL and the program actually offered to collaborate with this mission and how have partners, including PPA, supported them in this regard?
Karla: Why youth? It starts with my inner self. I see youth as a state of mind, of staying engaged, having the strength to move forward. Youth is about this, engagement, courage, it is about this disruptive space that exists in our society and needs to be cultivated. When you stop to think about the Amazon aspect, you realize that the development of the Amazon biome was not consistent with our territory. Generating degradation, plundering of our resources. This generates degradation for the territory and, mainly, for those who live and love here. And build their lives amidst struggles and resistance. As part of the most vulnerable groups, you find youth. And, often, without opportunities to build effective changes that can create new realities.
Our youth have had more access than previous youth. We want to break bubbles, bring other young people and other Amazonians with us, to create with us the change we want to see in our territory. We need to embrace the youth, keep them engaged so they have the opportunity to build new perspectives.
But it must be said that we have many vulnerabilities. Economic, social, access to education, internet, technology. This prevents us from having access to the tools that allow us to innovate. That is where partners come in. Young people need to lead, but for that we need to form a large coalition in favor of the Amazon, through a multisectoral perspective.
It is a very beautiful place for Climathon partners, including PPA, which has made it possible through financial resources and training, to materialize the transformations we want to see in the territory.
PPA: We know that challenges are commonplace in the execution of any project involving the environment and sustainability, especially in the Amazon. Can you list some of them and what lessons have you learned from your experiences in the region?
Josimo: The challenges are enormous when it comes to the Amazon, specifically. The biggest challenge today is keeping the forest standing. But keeping the forest standing also means knowing how to work with it. For example, my people, like other indigenous peoples, have known how to work with it for thousands of years. Today, this is one of the biggest challenges.
Another challenge, specifically for my people, is to be able to involve young people in this project. The external factors are different here among our people. There is a great lack of interest among the younger generation when it comes to the memory and tradition of the people.
In this sense, Climathon came to make this greater contribution, as it was an event organized by young people, protagonists. For me, I see it as a great opportunity to bring Puyanawa society closer to this other knowledge and institutions. After we won Climathon and I published a publication, some other young people asked me about this program and wanted to participate with me in this project. I am very happy.
Karla: One challenge we noticed during Climathon was the issue of connectivity. Climathon was predominantly held virtually. Given the heightened vulnerabilities caused by Covid-19, this ends up excluding many people and young people from creating new perspectives for the territories.
We have 3 million Amazonians who are unable to fully exercise their citizenship. This is very worrying when it comes to the mission of keeping the forest standing. Connecting with other young people and developing this common awareness is important, because it brings together Amazonian youth and that is where we recognize our pain.
PPA: What are your expectations regarding the legacy left by this experience? What would you like to develop and/or improve from now on?
Karla: The fruits began to be harvested even before the Climathon took place. It is like “acupuncture” for the youth. You have a problem and you start to engage the youth around this issue. This is essential. One of the main results of the Climathon was the engagement of more than 150 young people in the cause. One difficulty was engaging the youth of the Amazon in the bioeconomy, but we need to understand that we already have young people engaged in this issue. What we really need is to join forces with these movements in favor of the organizations of the territories.
Another incredible result is this interest. Inevitably, when a young person receives an award, they receive an incentive to continue with that idea and awaken the desire to get involved and participate in these opportunities in other young people. We strengthen other young people who are in a satellite perspective and on the sidelines of this initiative, which is another gain. The training with the YCL course and mentoring, for example, open up other opportunities. Jósimo, for example, had the opportunity to negotiate a computer so that a young person could have access to the YCL course. This engagement touches other people who are in tune with this cause. We have several other gains, from a monetary perspective, for example. We need to have financial investment in our ideas so that we can get them off the ground. It is disruptive. We need to financially strengthen these initiatives, collectives and young people. We have four ideas engaged with micro-investment to make this happen.
One last important result is to foster the dreams of Amazonian youth and give them a leading role. We have difficulty breaking bubbles and reaching this place of protagonism. Fostering dreams, struggles, constructions and narratives is one of the main gains.
Josimo: My expectations have become increasingly greater. I am very attached to the memory of my people. Today we are in the midst of a cultural revival, in which we intend to bring many elements and knowledge from our ancient traditions. The greatest expectation is that our history, our narratives and our elements will not die.
We have an increasingly engaged youth, who are aware of our values and our history. A protected and demarcated territory is essential to further guarantee the rights of the Puyanawa people, ensure the digital inclusion of the people, and open up horizons and new expectations, especially for the youngest. We want to promote a dialogue between indigenous and non-indigenous societies… Until shortly before the Climathon, we were not strengthening this greater dialogue. My expectations go much further. I have a big dream of building a traditional house in our community, to live in what is part of our world. For me, as an indigenous person, this will be the greatest result.
To follow more interviews from the “Portfolio Learnings” series and PPA’s Paths to the Amazon campaign, visit: www.ppa.org.br/caminhosamazonia