After years of struggle and community organizing, the Costa Rican women's association Kábata Könana (Defenders of the Forests and Mountains) received the 2021 United Nations Equator Prize for their response to the global climate crisis. 

According to the United Nations Development Programme report, UNDP, the Cabécar Indigenous women of Talamanca, Limon Province, are leading the destiny of their indigenous communities.

Their efforts to protect natural resources are joined with those of hundreds of Latin American Indigenous peoples who, together inhabit one-third of the continent's forests.

In her yellow dress, rubber boots and waist-length hair, 47-year-old Maricela Fernández Fernández, is a Cabécar leader from the Talamanca canton. “This is part of a grassroots process and struggle because the role of women and their participation has always been part of our worldview. Do you know what motivates me?” she asked, giving her answer away with the direction of her gaze, “Seeing so many young women working, empowered.”

At the Progreso, a small town to the east of the extensive Talamanca Cabécar Indigenous territory on the grounds of the Kabata Women's Association, the recent arrivals finish arranging their inventories on improvised bamboo tables: bags of rice and coffee, piles of yellow yuca, multicolored chili peppers, ground ginger, potatoes, oranges, cocoa, smoked meats, plantains, and more. 

There are also woven baskets, earrings, banana flour, and passion-fruit plants. At the other end of the tents, the cooks continue making lunch enveloped in the smoke of chicken and turmeric.

Fernández has just come from a meeting as president of Kábata Könana. She is likely to continue from meeting to meeting for the rest of the day. Her cohorts have been waiting for her for a while, but her presence is not essential for the day to go as planned. Each person knows what they need to do and how to do it.

Founded in 2016, the association of indigenous women have dealt with the deep-rooted problems in their territories in many different ways: the misogynistic macho culture, environmental pollution, deforestation, the loss of their language, ancestral knowledge, and even hunger.

“This territory only produced plantains. When the pandemic hit, what were we going to live on if the trucks didn't come to buy them? Now you can see the variety of products here,” she said.

Although it is early and there are only a few visitors, it's easy to predict that today's activities will be successful. The women are not only there to sell their products but also to barter. The Indigenous Virtual Barter Shop (Estanco Indígena de Trueque Virtual Productivo) was established in mid-2020, during the pandemic, as a way to feed their families and boost the economy.

The monthly barter shop was immediately consolidated as a sustainable development mechanism for 10 communities in the Cabécar Indigenous territory. It was organized by the women's network and began to sell and trade agricultural products, handicrafts, knowledge and news through WhatsApp, an application that they have been able to use as a cultural strengthening tool. 

The 247 associates help to maintain their families and communities, and soon after beginning their efforts, other Cabecar communities such as Tayni and Nairi Awari heard about successful initiatives and began replicating these alternative trade models.

“Here in the territory the land is inherited from mothers to daughters, but then men started selling the women's land. So, in 2008 we founded another organization called Kasatkö to fight to recover these lands. Currently, all the women have their farms and a collection center where they can sell their products,” Fernández said.

The first attempts to organize began more than 15 years ago. Fernández said that her first objective was to confront and prevent gender-based violence against women, something that still motivates her to this day. As they grew as an organization, the women realized that one of the main causes of their problems stemmed from the looting of their farms and plots by romantic partners. 

This stripped them and their children of their autonomy, resources, cultural roots, and the chance at an equal and fair present and future. The violence they endured was not only physical and psychological but also economic.

Conflicts over land ownership are deeply rooted in the history of Indigenous peoples. In Latin America, they inhabit 404 million hectares of the continent, including 35 percent of its forests. 

Despite these lands and peoples being rich in natural resources and culture, they suffer from severe economic inequality and lack public services, as detailed in a recent report by the Food and Agriculture Organization, FAO. 

The contribution of Latin American Indigenous peoples in environmental conservation and the fight against climate change is critical since 30% of the carbon stored in the region´s forests is located within their territories. That's 14 percent of all the carbon captured by tropical forests worldwide.

--------------------
What have you heard about actions in your community to protect the forest? We would like to know your thoughts on this story. Send your comments to news@amcostarica.com