The Supreme Court of Justice’s historic decision, in favor of the lawsuit filed by 25 children and young people asking the government to stop deforestation in the Colombian Amazon and tackle climate change, includes a number of orders that different government agencies and the plaintiffs themselves must comply with in order to achieve the decision’s goals.

One of those orders is the creation of an “Intergenerational Pact for the Life of the Colombian Amazon” to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and deforestation to zero. Different actors including the plaintiffs, scientific and research organizations, communities affected by deforestation and climate change, the government, and anyone interested must jointly draft the Pact. It must include national, regional, and local actions of a preventative, obligatory, corrective, and pedagogical nature.

Everyone can join this effort in favor of the Amazon’s life! Here is what you need to know about this important pact and how you can be a part of it:

1. What is the objective?

To adopt intergenerational measures for climate change adaptation that help guarantee the life of the Colombian Amazon, which was declared “subject of rights” in a historic decision by the Supreme Court of Justice.

2. Why make a pact?

Because all the relevant actors must reach commitments to protect the life of the Colombian Amazon. The commitments must take into account common but differentiated responsibilities, as well as respective capacities.

3. What does it mean for it to be an “intergenerational” pact?

It means that the main actors involve two generations: young people, who will live the climate change impacts resulting from deforestation in the Colombian Amazon, and the generation of people who today have the power to make decisions in the country and who probably will not face these impacts.

4. What kind of proposals can be included?

The pact is a collective effort, a creative exercise where all kinds of proposals can be made: from educational initiatives (for example, the creation of a climate change curriculum for schools) to technological proposals (for example, the creation of a mobile app that shows deforestation in the Amazon in real time). These proposals could be related to issues such as: education, transparency, access to information, conservation and ecological restoration, alternative economic models, land management, and accountability. Other key issues are welcome as well.

5. Where should I send my ideas?

[email protected]