A new exercise in youth-led advocacy is taking place, seeking solutions to the climate crisis and to promote the importance of maintaining land rights (the legal and customary entitlements for communities over the land they occupy).
From July 22nd to 25th, more than 50 young leaders from Indigenous Peoples, Afro-descendant Peoples, and local communities across 27 countries from Asia, Africa, and Latin America are gathering in Bali, Indonesia, for the first-ever Global Youth Forum.
The list of countries involved includes:
- Africa: Cameroon, Kenya, Liberia, Chad, Madagascar, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
- Asia: Indonesia, Philippines, Nepal, India, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar.
- Latin America: Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil.
The event is hosted by the Rights and Resources Initiative (RRI), in partnership with the Indonesian youth organization, Barisan Pemuda Adat Nusantara (BPAN), and the Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN) –which represents 20 million individuals from Indigenous communities across Indonesia.
The Forum is a historic convening aimed at strengthening the leadership, solidarity, and global impact of youth defenders for both lands and natural resources. The delegates are set to be the next generation of guardians of the world’s forests and traditional lands. Indigenous peoples are invariably vital guardians of the world’s forests and traditional lands, holding a wealth of knowledge and practices essential for conservation.
Activities include developing solutions to mitigate climate change, such as by increasing carbon storage and with improving forest ecosystem resilience.
The Forum is designed to provide a transformative space to address the challenges faced by people in more economically challenged areas and to collectively chart a new path forward and prepare for the COP 30 discussions that are going to take place in Bélem, Brasíl, in November 2025.
As well as discussing core environmental issues, the youth representatives are engaging in intergenerational dialogues with respected elders and human rights leaders in the community rights space, including:
- Rene Ngongo (DRC), environmental defender who received the Alternative Nobel Prize in 2009 for courage in confronting forces destroying Congo’s forests and for supporting conservation and sustainable use of resources.
- Solange Bandiaky-Badji (US, Senegal), Coordinator and President of RRI, she previously led RRI’s Africa and Gender Justice Programs.
- Jenifer Lasimbang (Malaysia), head of the Indigenous Peoples of Asia Solidarity Fund.Rukka Sombolinggi, Secretary General of AMAN and longtime Indigenous youth rights advocate.
Commenting on the event, Cindy Yohana from BPAN, Indonesia says: “Indigenous Youth are not merely heirs to a name, but a force that preserves meaning, resists forgetting, and ensures that ancestral lands and heritage remain alive”.
The Forum will build on regional processes that have taken place since 2023, including the development of the 2023 Youth Manifesto in Latin America, the Youth Solidarity Workshop in Asia in the same year.
