AIDA for a Healthy Enviraonmental

Dear Friend,

On the final day of 2024, we continue to honor the Latin American tradition of eating 12 grapes and making 12 wishes for the year ahead.

In our previous email, we shared the powerful testimony of Cabildo Jaime Luis from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in Colombia. His wish reminded us of the importance of recognizing territories as living entities deserving respect and protection.

Today, we want to conclude and share the third wish, along with a testimony from one of our partners in Argentina, where the environment and communities are deeply affected by encroaching extractive industries.

This wish offers a glimpse of hope, reflecting the strength that emerges when communities come together to tell their stories and work toward a shared vision for a better future.

Meet Gabriel

Gabriel, is a traditional authority of the Mapuche organization Organización Identidad Territorial Malargüe in Mendoza, Argentina. During his testimony, he outlined how even in the face of their land being occupied by transnational corporations and large landowners exploiting natural resources (such as oil, copper, and lithium), over the past 15 years they have demanded legal recognition and communal ownership of their ancestral territories.

His wish?

“…A specific law to regularize access to land tenure, which is community ownership. In Argentina, all the necessary legal frameworks already exist, and there is a political will that must be expressed…” 

During Gabriel’s testimony, he also shared how each of the communities at the Advisory Opinion hearing came together to tell their stories, which were often strikingly similar. These voices demonstrate how Indigenous communities are not only fighting for their rights, but also addressing the broader climate crisis on behalf of us all. 

We invite you to stand with AIDA and the communities we work with in defending our shared planet.

This collaboration reinforces our belief in the power of unity and solidarity to protect sacred territories and ensure a livable future for all.

Together, we can create a world where communities and ecosystems are respected and protected.

Sincerely,

Gladys Martínez

Executive Director