Local voices also counter misinformation about their own communities that impedes real climate action.

In Nepal, Indigenous peoples are often viewed — and portrayed by ministry media — as climate victims or as mere stakeholders, Sunuwar stressed, not as rights holders or as holders of traditional knowledge.

“We as Indigenous media have been advocating that there is a need to decolonize the media and to Indigenize the media, with more Indigenous journalists so that they can bring Indigenous communities’ perspectives, in a true way, and portray them positively,” he said.

At stake is the dominant discourse, Vargas agreed. “This is why we need grassroots media, our own media, to counter these narratives.”

Local climate voices highlight gaps between local realities and higher-level decision makers.

“There is a disconnect [between] what we want to achieve and what is being imposed upon us” when it comes to development in the Philippines, something very much related to climate change, Mai Torres observed.

She recounted work with two fisherfolk women to communicate the likely negative impact of a proposed airport billed as an important part of development. The project was approved and resulted in people losing their lands and being displaced, forest being cleared, and greater flooding and storm surges causing much damage.

In another example, Mai Torres related how the prevailing discourse at the UN’s official human rights review for the Philippines — that the government was taking climate action and addressing rights violations — conflicted with what CEC reported about climate impacts on local communities and attacks on climate activists.

“What we see on the ground is very different,” she said, noting that in such international fora, local voices share the truth of what is happening in local communities.

“We need more support to bring out this information and put pressure on government to do climate action in the right way, with consideration for human rights.”

Local climate voices bring climate justice solutions rooted in local knowledge.

“Local voices are important to bring visible and lasting solutions which are not only socially accepted but socially built from local knowledge,” Lopez Illescas stated.

He added that such solutions include the traditional knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities around the world.

Through living in close proximity with the land, Indigenous peoples have important knowledge about how to protect the environment, mitigate climate impacts, and farm in ways that are climate friendly, Sunuwar said.

He pointed to increasing awareness of the need for Indigenous peoples to be meaningful participants in global efforts to address climate change. “I believe that the International communities will take Indigenous voices seriously.”

Local climate voices hold policymakers accountable.

Strong and active local voices are key to keeping pressure on national governments and other powerful actors driving climate action, according to Lopez Illescas.

“Hold governments and international institutions accountable to respect their commitments and to be coherent in terms of balancing respect of rights with feasible and lasting climate action.”

He stressed that global solutions need to have a clear connection to the formal rights and agendas of local communities, led by their governing authorities.

Vargas agreed that local voices must push for coherent policy. “You can’t promote climate adaptation on one hand and with the other be financing oil extraction.”

The importance of local voices in ensuring accountability can be seen in the establishment of a Loss and Damage Fund during the COP27 last year, which Vargas noted was the result of “years and years of advocacy” to gain financial compensation by countries in the Global North to countries in the Global South for the severe impacts of climate change.

Local climate voices inspire hope.

“The inspiration for addressing climate change really comes from the communities,” said Torres, returning to the story of the fisherfolk women who fought in vain to stop the airport project.

The women met again in CEC’s climate curriculum project. At first, “they were crying with frustration,” Torres related. But as they were trained as trainers in climate action, there was a radical shift — to a determination to continue working for change despite the risks of harassment, further displacement, and physical harm.

Saying “we don’t want that to happen to other communities; we want to continue struggling,” they continued to organize climate action with other communities.

“When [people] are presented with opportunities and know there are other people supporting them, they will have courage. That will cause a ripple effect and hopefully become a strong united movement,” Torres said.

Lopez Illescas said he draws on the example of local communities working vibrantly and bravely for change in a region historically dominated by a small oligarchy.

“We can see how the strong voices of those marginalized communities, particularly Indigenous communities, remain very, very active. Not only resisting but also proposing more fair and even more feasible solutions to local problems, development problems, including tackling the effects of climate change.”

(Clockwise from upper right) Local climate voices at the Conversation Circle with panelists Lia Mai Torres (Philippines), Victor Lopez Illescas (Guatemala), and Dev Kumar Sunuwar (Nepal), and moderator Lorenzo Vargas (Colombia/Canada).