I work with people and organisations from all around the world, giving me a daily mental escape from my living room in Switzerland during the COVID19 lockdown. One group that I am especially honoured to work with is the Alianza Mesoamericana de Pueblos y Bosques (AMPB), or Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests in English, who is celebrating 10 years of impact, engagement and successes. AMPB is an alliance providing a space for discussion and collaboration among territorial authorities that are historically present over 50 million hectares of forests. But it’s the energy and devotion of its members that inspires me.

      Photo: RIBCA / AMPB

Convinced that only through unity will forest communities and territories in Mesoamerica be prepared to face the immense threats to their culture, their livelihoods and their lives caused by deforestation; national territorial governments and organisations decided to join forces at UNFCCC COP16. Since then, the alliance has been relentlessly defending their rights, creating worldwide campaigns to improve visibility of their roles in sustainable forest management, and bringing exposure to the threats they face.

The alliance has evolved over the years but their essence remains the same. I have had the pleasure and honour to collaborate with AMPB for the last six years under a grant agreement with the Forest and Farm Facility, managed by IUCN. Over the years, I have seen the alliance grow and position itself strongly at UNFCCC COP with powerful campaigns like If Not Us Then Who, and grow in influence as evidenced by invitations from UNFCCC Executive Secretary or the New York Declaration on Forests to contribute to discussions.

One of the things for which AMPB advocates is for forest and farm producer organisations like theirs to be able to directly receive climate change funds without needing to go through national governments, other international organisations or NGOs. In the early years, as they worked to create the Mesoamerican Territorial Fund, they realised that they were not gaining enough traction alone, so they decided to seek external support to assess the feasibility of creating their own fund in view of becoming recipients of climate change finance.

When they saw their opportunity, we (FFF) supported their first engagements with peers around the world, with the objective of building a global movement for increased international recognition. In 2014, they started reaching out to similar organisations such as Indigenous Peoples Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN, Indonesia); Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP); the Network of Indigenous and Local Peoples for Forest Ecosystem Management (REPALEF, Congo Basin);  and Coordinator of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA). Six years later, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, hosted by COICA with the support of FFF among others, and with a constituency formed by AMPB, AMAN, and the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) is seeing this unifying effort pay off as they jointly prepare a focused agenda for international policy to be presented at the next IUCN Congress.

But what I admire even more is AMBP’s capacity to be self-critical and adapt their internal structures as needed. This is evident by their acknowledgement of a need to provide more space to the women in their organisations and communities as well as build a space for youth. They have also added a new focus, thus far targeted at policy influencing, by looking at increasing alliance support for the strengthening of their members’ supply chains and especially those for women.

To this end, the women leaders of the member organisations of the AMPB formed the Coordination of Mesoamerican Territorial Women Leaders. This the indigenous women leaders’ platform where they can exchange knowledge on productive activities and discuss socio-cultural issues, including gender violence, while coordinating their political efforts to defend and increase their rights.  

The drive of this group of women and motivation to organise and make progress despite the pandemic is humbling and energising. Even in this difficult context, made worse by climate change-stoked natural disasters and deforestation, they have successfully founded the Mesoamerican Fund for the Strengthening of Business Capacities of Indigenous Women and Community-Based Organizations (FOMUJER). This game-changing fund supports women's production plans in the most vulnerable territories of the region, facilitates training in value chains, aids with organisation, and provides seeds for planting.

AMPB has so many success stories to celebrate during its 10^th anniversary. It is with pride that I collaborate with them. I am grateful for all the things AMPB, especially the women, have taught me over the years. And I’d like to wish them an excellent anniversary.

      Photo: IUCN / Pauline Buffle