Promotion and protection of civic space as a strategy of resilience and climate justice in Central America

 

The climate emergency and civic space (the opportunities for public participation) are intrinsically linked. An inclusive and unrestricted civic space has the potential to reshape our climatic future, and there are growing global socio-environmental demands and movements, many of them led by women, peasant groups, Indigenous people and Afro-descendants. The Northern Triangle of Central America is an ideal region for understanding the complex links between civic space and the climate crisis. The region is characterized by high climate vulnerability, repressive or closed states, growing deterioration in human rights, hostility towards environmental resource defenders and widespread multidimensional fragility.

This project aims to characterize the context, agency, strategies and capacities for action and advocacy of Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities; strengthen women's skills to effectively participate, sustain and influence the design of public policies that facilitate just and equitable climate responses; facilitate knowledge exchange and intra- and extra-regional partnerships that promote inclusive and secure civic space for climate resilience in the region; and promote, through advocacy in strategic national and international spaces, the implementation of enabling public policies for environmental defence and socio-environmental justice work and the practice of civic exercise as a strategic response to the current climate crisis.