February 2nd 2023

Colombia is the second most biodiverse country in the world. This means that, among all the 193 nation-states, the 1,139,000 square kilometers crossed by the Andes Mountains rank second among those with the greatest diversity of plants and animals. However, something makes the South American country particularly special when compared to Brazil, the first place on the list. With the size of only one Brazilian state, Gabriel García Márquez's land matches the imagination of its main writer: it is pure magic realism. For a Brazilian, living in a nation 8 times larger than his neighbor, to experience a considerable change in fauna and flora, one has to travel hundreds of kilometers, while for a Colombian, traveling only an hour transports him to completely new climates, foods and even customs. It is in this palpably utopian country where the young environmentalist Francisco Javier Vera, now 13 years old, was born. The pure Creole has been delighting the world for a few years now with his sweet, childlike voice and his maturity and environmental awareness lacking in many big people.

Regardless of which nation ranks first, second, or third on the list of countries privileged for their biodiversity, something that unites the American continent from Patagonia to Alaska is its exuberant richness in plants and animals. This immense continent, even though it is plagued by the most varied forms of violence and plundering of its natural resources, preserves in the hearts of its inhabitants, of whom Vera is a remarkable representative, an intimate relationship with Planet Earth. We, Latin Americans, know ourselves to be a fundamental piece for the preservation and recovery of the Earth's ecosystem; we are native seeds that, when we germinate, cause a great positive impact not only regionally but also on the planet as a whole.

"Greta Thunberg has served me as an inspiration, but it is more difficult to do nature activism in Colombia than in Europe," Francis vented a few years ago, referring to the Swedish climate activist and the difficulties faced by nature defenders in Latin America. The region has the highest number of murders of environmental leaders, farmers and indigenous people. This fact is directly related to the richness of our soils. Chiquinho (a nickname I gave him in a very affectionate way) also had his share of threats via Twitter and other social networks, confirming the unacceptable rates of violence against Latin American people. Vera now lives in Spain, where he participates in the show El Niño Y la Tierra alongside Gran Wyoming in the program El Intermedio.

With a premature eloquence, Vera first gained notoriety in her own country by speaking in front of the Colombian Senate about the importance of preserving the environment and voting against tax reform.

In 2021, then only 11 years old, Chiquinho attended the COP 26, in Glasgow, Scotland, where he met Greta. This time it was the young Swede who expressed her admiration for the Colombian: "You are an inspiration for many young people," said the activist.

In 2022, again present at the summit, now COP 27 in Cairo, Egypt, Vera participated in the first Children and Youth Pavilion in the history of the event, where young people from different countries and regions of the world informed, discussed, gave their opinions and proposed solutions to the climate crisis. Chiquinho expressed his dissatisfaction with the disregard of adults for the contributions of the new generations: "We live in a society in which the human being believes himself superior to the rest of the animals, men superior to women, and adults superior to children." Having founded at the age of 11 the Guardianes por la Vida collective, which today has more than 400 young people spread throughout Latin America, Chiquinho proves that it is necessary to combat this culture of adultcentrism.

READ: IMPECCABILITY WITH WORDS, THE FIRST TOLTEC AGREEMENT

Francisco, Greta, and more and more young people around the world, demonstrate through words and actions their deep connection with Mother Earth, reaffirming that not only is this our only planet, but that it is a welcoming planet, rich and pleasant to live on. Youth runs counter to billionaires who are only interested in drilling into the Earth to extract every last ore that rests in its soil, while proposing million-dollar space journeys so that we can escape this terrible place.

Youth knows that our home has a solution and that it is a home worth fighting for. In 1997 the thinker and singer Chorão wrote: "I see on TV what they talk about the youth is not serious. The young person in Brazil is never taken seriously." 26 years later, it is possible to paraphrase him by saying that the young in the world are never taken seriously.

Even so, the overpowering efforts of children and adolescents, lead them to gain more and more space to expose their points of view. Vera in Colombia, Greta in Sweden, Txai Suruí in Brazil, Xiye Batista in Mexico are some examples of this activist generation. We wonder when their voices will have more relevance than those of the mining and oil companies that destroy our home.

#franciscovera #cop26 #cop27 #activism #environment #latinamerica #youth#climatechange