The 27th U.N. Climate Conference (COP27) witnessed its largest known delegation of Afro-descendants from the Americas in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The Afro-Interamerican Forum on Climate Change (AIFCC)) and its partner institutions provided to stakeholders an opportunity to hear and internalize a different perspective on how to accelerate climate change adaptation in Latin America and the Caribbean.
The AIFCC includes a team of international development practitioners, advocates and members of the academic community trained to design and implement more inclusive and practical tools to adapt and mitigate climate change
The agenda focused on tackling the issue of ‘loss and damage’ in coastal populations, cities and small islands - known as the Natural Belt of the Americas - where the highest concentration of people of African descent in the Americas reside.
During the COP27 Summit, members of the AIFCC proposed actionable recommendations under different scenarios, including a panel on the “Invisible Environmental Defenders: Afro-descendant communities in the Americas.” This panel took place at the Colombian pavilion and addressed several topics. Including: (i) financing the climate agenda in Afro-descendant populations in Latin America and the Caribbean; (ii) empowering local leadership through the AIFCC; (iii) the climate contributions of Afro-descendant territories by Conservation International; and (iv) the AIFCC’s role in promoting research, participation, visibility and innovation in Afro-descendant populations.
A meaningful engagement of all segments of society to tackle the climate crisis must include an active participation of leaders that are implementing locally-led projects that will have transformational change in the region
There are over 200 million people of African descent in the Americas. Participants of the panel on the “Invisible Environmental Defenders: Afro-descendant communities in the Americas,” included: David Lammy, UK's Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs; Francisco Canal, Vice-minister of Environmental Planning of the Territory, Ministry of Environment of Colombia.
Ambassadors of the Afro-Interamerican Forum on Climate Change at COP27 included Marcela Angel, Josefina Klinger, Angelica Mayolo, Heiny Palacios, Raisa Banfield, Kelvin Alie, Robert Asprilla and Julio Guity-Guevara.
Partner organizations were represented by several organizations, including Solange Bandiaky-Badji and Omaira Bolanos of the Rights and Resources Institute, Jimena Niño, Chief of party of the Indigenous People and Afro-Colombian Empowerment (IPACE) through ACDI/VOCA; and Alicia Montalvo, Manager of Climate Action and Positive Biodiversity at CAF - Development Bank of Latin America, among others.
During two weeks— November 6 through November 18 - COP27 held high-level and side events and key negotiations. Delegations from more than 180 countries, 100 Heads of State and Governments, and more than 35,000 participants joined the event. This is the Second time the AIFCC successfully participated COP after it was created in the COP26 Summit in Glasgow, UK in 2021.