QUOTES

Tasneem Essop, Climate Action International:  “Movements from across the globe and the region - Afro-descendants, feminists, youth, peasants and fisherfolk, social movements and Indigenous Peoples converged in a three-day Peoples Summit in Santa Marta to build a collective consensus on our demands and solutions for the just transition away from fossil fuels. The adoption of a powerful declaration that spells out our positions on ensuring that the transition has to be rights-based, funded and results in the dismantling of the systems that have caused harm and destruction driven by fossil fuel dependency. Our representatives will carry this mandate from the Peoples into the High Level Conference being held from today. We call on the Governments to pay attention to our real solutions.”

Lidy Nacpil, coordinator, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD): “We welcome the stance taken by the high-level delegates in Santa Marta, who have acknowledged that a just transition is impossible while Global South nations remain shackled by predatory, unsustainable and illegitimate debts. The debt being collected from us is miniscule compared to the historical economic, social, and ecological debt owed to our people. Much of the debt our people are being forced to pay did not benefit them and have in fact caused harm to people and the planet, such as the massive debts arising from fossil fuel projects. We reiterate the call “Cancel the Debt.” Further, we demand the delivery of adequate, public, non-debt-creating Climate Finance by the Global North to the Global South. This is a legal and moral obligation and part of reparations for the historical and continuing harms. The success of this summit lies in its commitment to a transition that honors the reparations owed to communities and Peoples.” 

Belyndar Rikimani, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change: “Santa Marta must be remembered as the moment where youth voices became central to outcomes, particularly as nations aligned on the urgent necessity of debt justice. Enforcement of States’ legal obligations must include child‑rights impact assessments in all economic, social, and energy decisions. We cannot achieve climate justice while Island nations are shackled by debt; environmental assessments must be participatory and inclusive, ensuring that the financial freedom of future generations is protected by the law.”

Alex Rafalowicz, Director of the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative:  “Today marks a decisive shift in climate diplomacy. For too long, multilateral consensus has been held hostage by fossil fuel interests, delaying the urgent action the Peoples and science demand. What is emerging in Santa Marta — linking debt justice with a binding plan to phase out oil, gas, and coal — finally recognizes these crises as inseparable. In the plenary, calls for a Fossil Fuel Treaty rang out from both governments and civil society, signaling a level of convergence that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. This conference can push governments beyond vague promises toward the practical architecture of a just transition — one that confronts extraction head-on and replaces it with cooperation, equity, and real accountability.”

Meleika Gesa-Fatafehi, Strait Climate Action & Climate Justice Squad: “With the plenary’s alignment on debt justice and a formal treaty framework, there is a significant highlight on the Island nations and youth who are on the frontline. These communities carry generations of knowledge, yet have been burdened by systemic financial inequities. We must include Indigenous voices and knowledge not just to hear their truths, but to implement debt cancellation to fund our survival. We owe this tangible progress to our children, youth, and future ancestors.”

Fernando Tormos-Aponte, Just Transition Alliance: “It is hard to reconcile the excitement for a fossil fuel phaseout with multiple mentions of false solutions in the opening plenary and the barriers to participation that our movements experienced.” // Es difícil reconciliar nuestro entusiasmo por una transición más allá de los combustibles fósiles con las múltiples menciones de soluciones falsas en el plenario de apertura y las barreras que nuestros movimientos enfrentaron. 

Thomas Joseph Tsewenaldin, Indigenous Environmental Network: “A transition away from fossil fuels cannot be rooted in carbon market mechanisms, carbon dioxide removals, and solar radiation modification that continue to commodify our Mother Earth.  A transition cannot duplicate the same extractive processes of critical minerals and nuclear. Our territories cannot be sacrificed in the name of energy transition. If parties continue to lead the conversation of a transition based in colonialism, patriarchy, and capitalism, a TAFF won’t happen. Indigenous Peoples have proven they lead the way, and the parties have proven they cannot. Indigenous Peoples must have full participation in the process of the TAFF. The nations must have a desire for peace and turn away from wars at the same time as we transition away from fossil fuels.”