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Victory: Haven for leatherback sea turtles declared off-limits
In two separate rulings in May 2008, the Costa Rican government stood up for endangered leatherback sea turtles against business interests intent on building within their protected habitat.
A relative of dinosaurs, the endangered leatherback sea turtle has continually found its home in Costa Rica under threat. Poor planning and lack of oversight destroyed its nesting beaches in Flamingo and Tamarindo.
This time developers had their eye on the Leatherback National Marine Park (LNMP), home to some of the most important Leatherback nesting beaches in the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
A municipal zoning regulation was enacted that would authorize construction in part of the LNMP. However, AIDA and its local partner CEDARENA, together with the Leatherback Trust, successfully defended the park.
The Constitutional Chamber of the Costa Rican Supreme Court nullified the municipal zoning regulation, safeguarding the Leatherback sea turtles and their nesting beaches. This ruling closely followed another court victory by AIDA, CEDARENA, and Justice for Nature that required the government to expropriate the private lands within the LNMP, otherwise destined to be tourist playgrounds.
The leatherback sea turtle will continue to face threats from tourism development, fishing, egg poaching, and pollution. However, AIDA and its partners have shown that the law can be used to make a powerful difference.
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COP31: The urgency of key discussions and conditions for accelerating global transformation
By Florencia Ortúzar Greene and Karla Maass* Against a backdrop of growing political fragmentation, geopolitical conflicts, and weakening international cooperation, the 31st UN Climate Change Conference (COP31)—to be held November 9–20, 2026, in Antalya, Turkey—represents an opportunity to strengthen multilateralism and collectively advance toward structural transformations based on justice, human rights, and the protection of ecosystems.In Latin America and the Caribbean, the context surrounding COP31 is characterized by the expansion of extractivism, the weakening of environmental institutions, and growing risks related to control over natural resources. Socio-environmental conflicts and threats to environmental defenders add to this. At the same time, dependence on fossil fuels continues to expose countries to geopolitical tensions, energy-market volatility, and risks to their economies and the security of their populations.Given this situation, COP31 must help rebuild trust in multilateralism through decisions that can accelerate climate action, overcome barriers to its implementation, and address the needs of countries in the Global South.At AIDA, we have identified four key processes for moving in this direction. Check Out Our Proposals. 1. Implementing a just transition mechanismOne of the main challenges at COP31 will be defining how to implement the Belém Action Mechanism (BAM), agreed upon at COP30. Its transformative potential will depend on whether it moves beyond dialogue forums and, therefore, establishes inclusive multi-stakeholder governance focused on overcoming the structural inequalities that shape the transition, especially in the Global South.AIDA proposes:Governance: Ensuring the effective representation of rights holders in the mechanism’s governance bodies and technical forums. This should be achieved through a system modeled on the public representation provisions of the Escazú Agreement, ensuring the formal and ongoing participation of representatives from each stakeholder group recognized in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).Working methods: Establishing an ongoing process for collecting, organizing, and analyzing information that allows for the incorporation of the best available scientific evidence and the results of other international processes to guide the mechanism’s priorities and actions. We also propose coordinating with the Standing Committee on Finance to include a specific analysis of the resources allocated to a just transition in the first biennial monitoring report on the new quantified collective goal (NCQG) for climate finance, scheduled for 2028.Functions: Promoting a just energy transition that accelerates the phase-out of fossil fuels through exploitation-free zones—conceived as territories for life—and strengthening renewable and community-based energy alternatives. We also propose establishing socio-environmental safeguards for the extraction of “critical” minerals, based on human rights, ecosystem integrity, and strict criteria of necessity, traceability, and responsible use, to prevent the energy transition from reproducing new forms of extractivism. 2. Moving from funding promises to concrete actionsClimate finance remains a major point of contention in international negotiations. COP31 must make progress on implementing the Work Program on Climate Finance, placing developed countries' obligations to provide resources to developing countries at the center, in accordance with Article 9.1 of the Paris Agreement.AIDA proposes:Scope: Ensure the program contributes to implementing the NCQG, particularly the target of at least $300 billion annually by 2035, through a roadmap that strengthens public financing by developed countries. Furthermore, we consider it essential to establish a specific mandate to assess the projected public financing needed to meet this target, drawing on the communications and processes established under Article 9.5 of the Paris Agreement, and to formulate recommendations and concrete measures for COP32.Working methods: Promoting innovative spaces for technical and political exchange that go beyond traditional dialogues and help identify solutions to structural barriers such as indebtedness, the high cost of capital, and difficulties in direct access to financing for indigenous peoples and local communities. We also propose strengthening coordination with the Diálogo de Veredas to build on its findings on reorienting international financial flows, without replacing developed countries' funding obligations. 3. A Global Stocktake to identify necessary changesCOP31 will mark the start of the second Global Stocktake (GST2) under the Paris Agreement. This process will assess collective progress on climate action and help guide international decisions in the coming years.AIDA proposes:Establishing specific measures to facilitate the collection and systematization of information from traditionally underrepresented stakeholders, particularly indigenous peoples and local communities, and providing the support needed to ensure their knowledge, experiences, and territorial solutions contribute to a more representative assessment.Establishing an open and inclusive feedback mechanism for the summary reports resulting from the information-gathering phase. This mechanism should allow for the submission of comments, the identification of information gaps, and an understanding of how the contributions received are incorporated.Ensuring that GST2 is grounded in the best available science, including the timely incorporation of the findings of the IPCC’s Seventh Assessment Report (AR7), and uses the commitments from the first Global Stocktake as a starting point for assessing their implementation, ensuring that climate justice, human rights, and ecosystem integrity are cross-cutting themes. 4. Accelerating the transition away from fossil fuelsNearly three years after the commitment made at COP28 in Dubai, its implementation continues to face significant obstacles, while plans to expand fossil fuel production persist. COP31 represents an opportunity to break this deadlock and build on international initiatives aimed at accelerating a just, orderly, and equitable transition.To this end, explicit political support from the COP31 presidencies for the roadmap promoted by the Brazilian presidency of COP30 and for the process launched at the First International Conference on the Transition Beyond Fossil Fuels (Santa Marta) will be key, thereby strengthening their recognition and relevance on the international climate agenda.AIDA proposes:Formalizing and ensuring the institutional continuity of the Brazilian roadmap by incorporating it into the Antalya Political Package, and incorporating the results of both processes into the second Global Stocktake (GST2) to assess progress and gaps in implementing the commitment to phase out fossil fuels.We emphasize the need for the 35x35 electrification commitment to contribute effectively to reducing dependence on fossil fuels by promoting renewable energy, decentralized systems, and democratic, community-based governance models, with socio-environmental safeguards and an equitable distribution of benefits. Check Out Our Proposals.A COP31 focused on climate justiceThe climate crisis demands much more than new commitments. It requires transforming development models, international economic relations, and the cooperation and financing mechanisms that determine the actual scope for action by countries and their territories.COP31 offers an opportunity to move in that direction. Its significance will depend on governments' ability to make concrete decisions, strengthen international cooperation, and ensure that the necessary transformations are carried out with the effective participation of those who inhabit, defend, and protect these territories.In our proposals for COP31, we make specific recommendations for the four negotiation processes to contribute to climate action that is more ambitious, equitable, and centered on human rights and ecosystem integrity. Check Out Our Proposals. *Florencia Ortúzar Greene is the director of AIDA's Climate Program, and Karla Maass is an external consultant for the organization.
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A journey through Chilean Patagonia: Living on and caring for the edge of the world
In Chilean Patagonia, at the southwestern tip of the American continent, the land breaks up into peninsulas, isthmuses, and islands surrounded by fjords and channels, forming hundreds of labyrinths.It bridges the sea and the land, a fragile yet vital network of ecosystems, with areas that remain pristine and life flourishing in every corner.To experience Patagonia is to inhabit a "maritorio," a worldview that sees "territory" from and within the sea. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. It is to be surrounded by mountains that fade into the water, by glaciers that release small, silvery streams you can glimpse in the distance through the mist.It means exploring one of the planet's most pristine areas, a refuge for rich marine biodiversity. It means sharing the environment with a variety of cetaceans, including the great blue whale, fin whale, and sei whale; Chilean, common, and bottlenose dolphins; sea lions and elephant seals; and colonies of Magellanic, Humboldt, and other penguins.You walk through southern forests filled with lenga trees—native trees with deep roots and slender trunks—up to 400 or 500 years old and reaching over 30 meters. You feel the wind's constant presence on your face as it whistles through the waterways, shapes the foliage, and steers the ships. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. A "maritorio" as identityThe first Spanish settlers arrived in this region around 1520. Beginning in the late 18th century, European and North American sealers and whalers traveled through the Strait of Magellan but did not settle there permanently.In 1843, Chile took control of the region by founding Fort Bulnes. However, indigenous peoples, including the Kawésqar, already lived there. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. The Kawésqar sailed Chilean Patagonia's waters for thousands of years. They lived off the sea and traveled in canoes that served as their daily homes. As they sailed, they hunted for food (fish, shellfish, or sea lions), cooked over open fires, and attended births. They could read the wind and the tides as if they were their own language. The sea was not merely a resource; it was an extension of themselves, their memory, and their identity.But their relationship with the sea was violently disrupted. Seal hunters, whalers, traders, and settlers decimated the Kawésqar population by spreading diseases such as measles, tuberculosis, and smallpox. Their way of life was also disrupted: staple foods began to run short because of the indiscriminate hunting of sea lions and otters.The Kawésqar were forced to give up their nomadic lifestyle, change their clothing, and speak Spanish. Some families were relocated to missions, where they were exposed to disease and forced to live in closed communities and change their customs.The descendants of that population lost touch with their roots to escape the consequences of systematic persecution. The genocide of "the elders" is not a distant story: the older descendants heard about it directly from their grandmothers, grandfathers, mothers, and fathers, who endured that violence and managed to survive. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. Returning to the sea: A way to resist current threatsThe ecosystems of Chilean Patagonia and the indigenous communities that live there have been facing a new threat for years: the expansion of industrial salmon farming. Research shows that between 2009 and 2023, the number of salmon farming concessions granted rose from 1,108 to 1,380—nearly 25%—in the Los Lagos, Aysén, and Magallanes regions. Another 157 applications for new concessions are currently pending.Fattening pens are scattered throughout the marine area, extending into remote parts of the Southern Ocean, even within protected areas. Accumulated waste (including feces and uneaten feed) creates oxygen-depleted zones. In addition, cetaceans have been killed or injured by collisions with vessels, most of which serve the salmon farming industry.Salmon farms are restricting the Kawésqar people’s freedom of movement: They can’t even travel through their own waters!The waterways were their home and their main source of food. Today, few Kawésqar families make their living from fishing. According to community members, they must spend more and more hours on the water to catch as much fish as before. Under these conditions, many people see salmon farming as one of their few job options. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. The Kawésqar people’s connection to the sea—the foundation of their lives and culture—has suffered from a history of dispossession that has not ended, but has merely taken on a different form. The violence of colonization has now become the violence of boundless industrial growth.In light of this situation, the Kawésqar community "Grupos Familiares Nómades del Mar" is leading a project focused on diving and reconnecting with the sea. It seeks to restore the direct bond with the waters their ancestors navigated—a bond that salmon farming is putting at risk.The initiative primarily targets children. But as the diving classes progressed, moms, dads, and older community members were encouraged to enter the water. Some of them had been afraid of those waters, but now they dive into them as naturally as their ancestors would have.It is an act of memory and resistance: to look once more beneath the sea's surface where they were born and to restore to the new generations of Kawésqar a living connection to their maritime heritage—one that is not merely recounted, but felt. Photo: Fernanda Núñez Espinosa. Chilean Patagonia is not just a breathtaking landscape.It is a living space where Kawésqar communities—with support from AIDA, Greenpeace, and FIMA—continue to fight to halt the expansion of salmon farming and the damage it causes, so the sea remains theirs.
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Groundwater: The importance of what we can’t see
Did you know that beneath the ground we walk on lies the planet’s most abundant source of fresh water?These are aquifers, underground geological formations that store 99% of the world’s liquid fresh water.That groundwater provides nearly half of the world’s drinking water; it is the sole source of drinking water for one-third of the world’s population (about 2.5 billion people); and it accounts for 43% of the water used for irrigation.Therefore, keeping this resource accessible and high-quality is essential to the lives, health, and food security of millions of people.Despite their importance, aquifers face risks from extractive activities. One such activity is exploiting unconventional oil and gas deposits through fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, a technique that can lead to groundwater contamination. Key aquifers at risk: The case of BrazilSome of the world’s most important aquifers are located in Latin America, primarily within Brazil. They include:The Guaraní Aquifer System, a transboundary aquifer shared by Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. It supplies water to about 90 million people, meeting domestic, agricultural, industrial, and tourism needs across more than 1 million km².The Greater Amazon Aquifer System, which spans several Brazilian states and adjacent areas of the Amazon basin in neighboring countries, is one of the world's largest underground water reservoirs and accounts for more than 80% of the water circulating in the Amazon cycle. These strategic water reserves are currently at risk because fracking activities in Brazil could overlap with both aquifers, according to maps. The future of fracking in Brazil—and waterBrazil’s Superior Court of Justice is currently deciding whether to authorize fracking in the country to extract unconventional oil and gas.The technique involves drilling a straight well deep into the ground and then turning the drill to create an L-shaped well. Workers inject a mixture of water, sand, and chemical additives (some of which are toxic) into the well at very high pressure to fracture underground rocks and extract the hydrocarbons they contain.Fracking could contaminate the Guaraní and Greater Amazon aquifers if the toxic chemicals used to fracture the rocks seep through well leaks or surface spills. For this reason, and because of its high water consumption, the technique may jeopardize the water security of populations that rely on these groundwater sources, including indigenous communities and peoples in voluntary isolation.Because water from aquifers isn't just for drinking. It also irrigates crops, keeps rivers flowing, and sustains unique ecosystems.Even though we can't see them, aquifers hold a treasure that is vital to humanity.Protecting them means protecting life.
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