Indigenous women already have the climate solutions
Hillary Semeyan Lenantoiye, Karen Bailón, and Daniela Alba — these are three emerging feminist leaders within the climate space. Lenantoiye is from the Samburu, an Indigenous pastoralist community in northern Kenya. She founded the Inclusive Culture Action Network (ICAN). It puts the Samburu people, especially women and youth, at the head of their own climate solutions. As she says, “Indigenous communities already have the solutions. They just need to be trusted, empowered and included.” Bailón is an Ecuadorian climate and gender justice activist who sees protecting nature and protecting people as a linked struggle. After seeing the lack of intergenerational equity in climate conversations, she has with more than 200 youth to create climate solutions with the organization GreenCheck. In her words, “Young people are not mere observers, we are the generation that will live with the consequences of today’s decisions.” Alba is an Indigenous activist and survivor of forced displacement from Bogotá, Colombia. She currently serves as the advocacy coordinator for the Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat where she is helping to move towards reconciliation for historical and institutional acts of violence through religion. She says, “my duty is not to speak for them, but to listen to their voices and from that, create momentum within faith-based organizations at an international level.” When we center the voices of youth, women and Indigenous people, a more transformative vision for climate action emerges.
