02 Sep 2024 Why we must convene local actors to tackle the climate emergency: The case of Radio Ideal

The climate emergency is a challenge of such magnitude that we tend to forget that solutions are often found at the local level and in unexpected places.

Such is the case of Radio Stereo Ideal 98.9 FM, a community radio station based in Tena, in Ecuador’s Amazon region, that WACC visited recently in the context of our Voices of the Amazon project.

The Amazon rainforest is a major carbon sink, a vital source of biodiversity and ecosystem services, and a pivotal mechanism for local and global climate stability. However, multiple social and environmental challenges are contributing to degradation of the region that is bringing it to climate tipping points.

In Napo province, the area served by Radio Ideal, gold mining is one of these challenges. Its large-scale dredging of rivers, use of mercury to separate gold from sediment, and deforestation to make way for open pit mining have a devastating impact. Substances used for extraction have an adverse effect on water quality and fishing. Contamination of rivers also means they cannot be used for tourism, Napo’s main economic activity.

In the long term, this contributes to unemployment, poverty, and social tension as communities become split between those supporting gold mining and those opposing it. There are also many reports of state officials failing to uphold environmental regulations and judicial rulings against extraction due to bribes and threats from actors involved in mining, making the situation even more difficult to address.

Radio Ideal, in operation since 1993, is a central actor in holding local decision makers accountable and in helping to organize local civil society to challenge the activities that are destroying the rainforest.

The station has positioned itself as the only media outlet in Napo, an area with very limited internet connectivity, that provides a platform for local communities to express themselves. With a 600-watt transmitter, its broadcasting reaches most cities in the province, where 75 percent of the population is Indigenous, of the Kichwa nation. A quarter of the station’s programming is in the Kichwa language, and one of its two studios is owned by a local Kichwa community.

Radio Ideal’s motto? “The communities do not have to come to the radio station—the radio station must go to the communities.” Its broadcasters have been “in the trenches” covering local protests, visiting mining sites, and questioning the decisions of local officials.

It has also instated an open-door policy meaning that anyone whose vision aligns with that of the station—rooted in human rights and the protection of nature—is welcome to a space on the programming grid. This has led to multiple alliances: with Indigenous organizations, a network of community reporters, sustainable tourism leaders, environmental activists, local business owners, women’s groups, advocates for the rights of people with disabilities, and allied legislators and policy makers.

In other words, the station has contributed to a local ecosystem of support and advocacy in which it plays the role of connector, convener, and bridge builder.

This collaborative approach, with the radio station as a platform, has enabled the environmental movement in Napo to score some major wins: the suspension of an open pit mining license between 2020 and 2023, the removal of two corrupt provincial government officials from office, the appointment of members of the movement as provincial ombudsperson and their election to the national legislature.

These wins have sown the seeds of a political movement that hopes to one day convince local power to finally put an end to mining across Napo. Though mining, deforestation, and water pollution continue, the local environmental movement and the radio station have managed to articulate a different vision of development: one where people do not have to destroy their forests and rivers to meet their basic needs. And they are inviting local communities to a conversation about translating this vision to reality.

The work of this station is a good reminder that while many of the current efforts to address climate change, like energy transition and reforestation, are essential, we mustn’t ignore the role of communication, information, and media actors in turning the situation around. 

Democratic and inclusive media and information systems enable local actors to influence local policies in a positive way. They shed light on the local drivers that fuel environmental degradation. And they contribute to a social climate in which concerns for environmental issues can translate into genuine political will and meaningful action.

The solutions to climate change must be rooted in a clear understanding of local dynamics, including people’s livelihoods, local economies, and local power dynamics.

In WACC’s experience, it is impossible for locally relevant solutions to emerge without healthy and democratic local communication ecosystems that enable the most affected communities to be heard and to advance their own solutions. Failing to pay attention to such communication issues risks condemning many of the policies currently being rolled out to failure. The work of actors such as Radio Ideal is vital not just for local communities in Tena but for all of us.

David Granja, director of Radio Ideal in Ecuador’s Amazon region. Photo: WACC

Learn about WACC’s support for grassroots organizations that are using communication rights to advance climate justice.