QUOTES

Lidy Nacpil, coordinator, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD): “The atmosphere at the Plaza de Bolívar was defined by the relentless Caribbean heat, a physical reminder of the rising temperatures threatening coastal cities, and the heat of passion  and commitment to justice for people and the health of the planet.  A key message remained focused on climate debt and reparations. A fossil-free future is only possible if the wealthy nations responsible for the climate crisis provide the finance needed for a fossil fuel phaseout and a just transition. This is not a policy request. Climate finance and reparations are binding legal obligations and a survival necessity for peoples suffering the burn of a warming world.” 

Tasneem Essop, Executive Director of Climate Action Network (CAN) International, reinforced: “The energy and resistance on the streets of Santa Marta make one thing unmistakably clear: people will not accept half-measures or empty pledges. From the Sierra Nevada to the sea, this mobilization shows the strength of communities united in demanding a fast, fair, and fully funded phase-out of fossil fuels. The more than 50 governments gathering here must listen: this is a call for international cooperation to deliver real finance and reparations that restore dignity and sovereignty and help build a fossil free future. The time for delay is over; this is about justice, and it is about survival.”

Amarilys Llanos, Alianza Colombia Libre de Fracking, said: "Las calles de Santa Marta nos recuerdan hoy que la decisión de los pueblos del mundo por transformar el modelo energético es imparable. Liberar a nuestras comunidades significa poner el dedo sobre lo que siempre nos dijeron que era intocable, el modelo económico que captura hasta los sueños por un futuro libre de fósiles. Son las voces de las mujeres, niños y jóvenes, de los pueblos indígenas, campesinos, afros, sindicales, con la voz de los territorios, para decirle al mundo que la transición no es una negociación pendiente, es una decisión que los gobiernos deben tomar ahora, poniendo la vida en el centro."

Yuvelis Morales, Goldman Prize 2026 and speaker at the event, said: “We come from the rivers, from our territories. We are young people standing up to say that our future is one of water, biodiversity, joy and song — a future without fossil fuels. Our territories will no longer be sacrifice zones. No more fracking; we say no to extractivism. We are calling for a transition that looks far beyond oil and gas. To governments around the world, with more than 50 countries represented at this conference, we say: listen to our voices — the voices of thousands rising from our territories — voices that are clear: there is no turning back. We demand a transition led by communities, one that protects our territories as spaces of life, livelihoods, care and dignity.”

Haneen Shaheen - SWANA Coordinador, said: “Fossil fuels do not only heat the planet—they finance wars, deepen debt, and shift the burden of survival onto women and marginalized communities across the SWANA region. What we are witnessing today is an energy war reshaping our futures, yet the continued absence of SWANA voices from global climate and transition discussions is actively hindering any real progress in these processes. Ending fossil fuel dependency in our region is not only a climate demand, it is a feminist demand for justice, sovereignty, and peace.”

Alejandro Jaimes, Alliance of Non Governmental Radical Youth, stated: “Youth, children and future generations are rights-holders in a just transition away from fossil fuels, especially those affected by conflict, genocides, occupation, extractivism and structural marginalisation. We call for an equitable fossil fuel phase-out that denounces occupation, land dispossession, the extraction of critical minerals and ensures that youth and communities under occupation have the resources, autonomy, and decision-making power to shape their own energy futures. The current public debt system of structural debt traps developing countries, the communities and the territories and their future generations into fossil fuel dependence. We refuse a future where youth, children and future generations are paying fossil fuel related debts.“

Fernando Tormos-Aponte, Just Transition Alliance / US Climate Action Network on behalf of the North America regional coordination: “We come to Santa Marta to demand a just transition away from fossil fuel-based economies, for polluting states and corporations to assume responsibility for their harm, and for an end to all false solutions.” 

Eduardo Giesen, DCJ: “We bring to Santa Marta the unity forged in Belém: peoples in struggle, territories in resistance, and a shared horizon for systemic change. We are building a popular and feminist just transition — grounded in sovereignty, care, and justice — and consolidating the power of peoples to define our futures beyond fossil fuels.”

Valeria Peláez Cardona, WECF: After an intense collective process across regions and movements, the Women and Diversities sector is proud to support our Peoples Summit declaration.  Feminists, alongside our comrades in other movements have shown time and again that we are not here to observe. We come with power, with ideas, with expertise and solutions - on how this transition must be done. “Just” cannot be a mere decorative adjective within the transition. The work of dismantling fossil fuel dependency must go hand in hand with dismantling the patriarchal, colonial, racist and extractivist systems that sustain it. Anything less is “just” a transition.