The Interreligious Initiative for Tropical Forests participated in a joint and collaborative reflection exercise organized by the Faith Network for Climate Justice: Abya Yala, Latin America, and the Caribbean, with the aim of reflecting on the First Conference on the Transition Beyond Fossil Fuels—held April 26–29, 2026 (Santa Marta, Colombia)—and the role of religious leaders in this process, which is essential for addressing the global climate crisis.
As a result of these dialogues, the Faith Network for Climate Justice issued a statement proposing seven fundamental steps to make a just transition possible:
- The just transition process must place at its center the communities historically affected by extractivism and recognize their voices and experiences.
- A just transition goes beyond economic or climate metrics and prioritizes life in these territories. It requires participatory assessments, binding safeguards, and effective mechanisms to prevent harm and ensure reparations.
- It must recognize the equality of knowledge, integrating ancestral knowledge, worldviews, and spiritualities as legitimate foundations for climate decision-making, not as secondary elements.
- It requires governance centered on local communities, where communities have real decision-making power. This involves guaranteeing rights such as self-determination and prior consent, with effective oversight and enforcement mechanisms.
- It implies a structural transformation of the economic and consumption model, challenging extractivism and hyper-consumption. It also acknowledges the historical debt of the Global North and the need for reparations.
- It proposes a comprehensive transition that prioritizes agroecology, local economies, and food sovereignty. Sustainability is built from the ground up, with communities and nature at its core.
- Faith communities are driving an ethical and spiritual transformation that promotes a respectful relationship with life. The aim is to strengthen an eco-spirituality that accompanies a just, solidarity-based transition centered on collective well-being.
The Faith Network for Climate Justice: Abya Yala, Latin America, and the Caribbean is a coordinating space that emerged in 2022 and is composed of religious and spiritual communities, groups, and organizations committed to climate justice. Its goal is to bring about change and promote resilient actions in the face of the climate crisis, seeking a way of life that respects the sacred value, cycles, and balance of ecosystems.
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