By Astrid Peraza, Youth in Landscapes Program Intern, and Baruch Aguilar Mena, 2025 Ocean Restoration Steward

While COP30 may be behind us, the daily struggle of environmental defenders continues across the globe – albeit out of the spotlight.

Climate justice must be a fundamental pillar in development and at the very heart of environmental policy conversations. After all, what sort of world will we live in if we don’t take care of our planet today?

That means young people must be provided with the tools they need to fight their battles. In Latin America and the Caribbean, an international treaty could be part of the answer.

What is the Escazú Agreement?

The Escazú Agreement is an international treaty across Latin America and the Caribbean that aims to ensure public access to environmental information and participation in environmental decision making across the region’s 33 countries.

This agreement is also the first international legal instrument on ecocide and includes provisions to protect environmental defenders.

At the time of writing, 18 countries have signed and ratified the agreement. Another seven countries have signed but have not yet ratified it, including COP30 host Brazil.

The agreement has not yet been fully implemented anywhere. Countries are expected to have created implementation roadmaps ahead of further discussions at the agreement’s fourth meeting (COP4) in Santiago, Chile, in April 2026.

While the power of this agreement is not yet being felt, here’s why we – two environmental defenders from the region – care deeply and hold onto hope.

Astrid: Costa Rica’s coastal communities at risk

My name is Astrid, and I am dedicated to mangrove restoration in Costa Rica.

I grew up amidst the rhythm of the tides and the wrath of tropical storms in the city of Puntarenas, a small city on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast.

“Chacarita de Puntarenas is a community marked by the consequences of the climate and social crisis,” says Ariel Solano, a biosystems engineer and activist from the Escazú Alliance who hails from the same city as me.

“It is a very vulnerable community with very high levels of poverty, unemployment and insecurity, probably among the highest in Costa Rica. The fact that I grew up in this community made me experience firsthand the consequences of the climate crisis.”

Back in September, more than 130 leaders working at the intersection of climate and social justice from across Latin America gathered at a Climate Justice Camp in Tepoztlán, Mexico, hosted by Roots.

There, we met young leaders from all over the region who shared their experiences of how our warming climate is impacting their communities. We also saw and felt young people exercise their power with great determination on the frontlines of this crisis.

Solano names countless examples of how the changing climate is impacting coastal communities in Costa Rica, from rising seas and estuaries and more intense storms to difficulties for fishermen who can no longer rely on consistent catches to feed their families.

“For me, climate justice is a set of ethical and political principles that unite the fight against the climate crisis with principles such as the redistribution of power, class consciousness, reparations for historical damage and guarantees for human rights, putting the most vulnerable people and communities at the center,” says Solano. 

“Climate justice is recognizing that environmental exploitation and greenhouse gas emissions are not neutral. We can recognize the power relations and oppression in them.”

In Costa Rica, conversations about climate justice cannot be separated from the Escazú Agreement, which is named after the suburb where it was first adopted.

Even though Costa Rica was one of the main promoters of the agreement and hosted its signing, President Rodrigo Chaves has said he will not ratify it, arguing that it will harm the economy. Many hope next year’s election will bring a different perspective.

“Although we were one of the countries that led the negotiations, the agreement is not being applied at all,” says Camila Marín, a law student with a focus on environmental law and a member of the Escazú Alliance team.

“There are some laws that guarantee access to public information, but not specifically in environmental matters, and above all, we don’t have legislation that protects environmental defenders. In that sense, the Costa Rican people remain unprotected.”

Beyond the legal framework, Marín points to a structural problem: the centralization of environmental decisions. 

“Historically, policies have been made from the capital, without the participation of those who experience climate emergencies firsthand,” said Marín. “Thus, decontextualized laws are approved that don’t reflect local realities.” 

This participatory vacuum is precisely what the agreement could correct: ensuring that communities have an active voice in decisions that affect them and that public policies are built from the country’s diversity.

Across Latin America and the Caribbean, there is a huge disconnect between local circumstances and national decisions. 

We need environmental participation, as promoted by the Escazú Agreement, to not remain on paper but materialize in all areas where communities are being impacted by the climate crisis. 

Since 2020, when Costa Ricans began the fight for our country’s ratification of the Escazú Agreement, our collective dream has been to guarantee the access of our most vulnerable communities to a healthy environment. 

We want to ensure that we won’t wake up one day to see our ecosystems privatized – without ever having had a voice or a vote.

Our dream is to achieve the agreement’s deepest aspirations: to turn participation into living practice, where environmental policies are collective, just and born from the grassroots.

Baruch: Mexico’s megaprojects in the Yucatán

I’m Baruch Aguilar, and I’m restoring coastal dunes in Mexico.

Mexico was one of the first countries to sign and ratify the Escazú Agreement, showing the world its political will to guarantee the rights of access to information, participation and environmental justice. 

In practice, however, its implementation has faced some setbacks. 

Mexico’s Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT) has created a working group to implement the agreement and is still reviewing changes in national legislation. 

For now, local communities, especially those in remote areas, continue to be structurally barred from exercising their rights to public information and environmental justice.

In recent years, the country has promoted megaprojects in energy and infrastructure, such as the Tren Maya, the Interoceanic Corridor and the expansion of oil refineries, arguing that they will boost economic development and social welfare. 

But many of these projects were approved without adequate consultation processes and transparency. As a result, they’ve left serious impacts on our ecosystems, including the low jungle, aquifers and cenotes. 

When the Escazú Agreement has been fully implemented, I believe development projects will be achieved more equitably and have beneficial impacts on the communities involved.

From an ecological and environmental perspective, I think consultations with the region’s scientists and local community members will result in better ways to mitigate impacts and implement restoration measures while honoring local wellbeing.

In Sisal, where I live, and across the Mayan communities of the Yucatán Peninsula, communities have raised their voices in defense of water, cenotes and the jungle – all of which sustain life in the region. 

The construction of the Tren Maya has triggered a series of environmental conflicts linked to deforestation, habitat fragmentation and contamination of underground aquifers.

These effects have led local collectives and organizations to demand that companies transparently share the environmental impacts of their activities, as outlined by the Escazú Agreement.

Mexico is one of only seven countries to have made significant progress in roadmapping how to implement the agreement. 

However, it also embodies the tensions that persist across the region: despite its robust legal framework and progressive discourse, climate and environmental justice continue to depend heavily on civil society and local resistance.

Our people want opportunities for development and economic growth through the responsible use of our resources – without being displaced by corporations or the tourist industry.

In Sisal, the main economic activity remains artisanal fishing, with the most important fishery resources being octopus, lobster and finfish.

However, in the 1990s, the Mexican government promoted high levels of fishing without effective regulation. This, coupled with increased demand for food and exports, fueled a rise in illegal fishing that strained fish populations and marine health.

Now, many residents of Sisal are turning to other economic activities, such as ecotourism and traditional trades like masonry and plumbing.

By implementing the Escazú Agreement and consulting local fishermen, we could shape stronger policies to regulate economic activity and make fishing a reliable livelihood again.

I dream of a shared, integrated vision of the beach, the sea and local communities where people can benefit from nature without compromising the health of our ecosystems. 

The Escazú Agreement: A tool for regional solidarity

At the regional level, the Escazú Agreement is a powerful legal tool that aims to invite citizens into environmental decision making and protect those defending their lands.

From the territories of Mesoamerica to the jungles of the Caribbean, communities are demonstrating that climate justice requires real participation, alliances and processes that recognize the cultural and ecological diversity of the region. 

Escazú can and must be a living tool capable of galvanizing social movements, youth, women and Indigenous Peoples who are all fighting for a just future.

For the sake of our coastal communities and all environmental defenders across Latin America and the Caribbean, we urge our leaders to keep pushing this agenda by creating roadmaps to implement the agreement to enshrine environmental rights in law.

We hope the spirit of Escazú, based on transparency, solidarity and the defense of life, can inspire future climate negotiations such as those at the annual UN climate conferences.

Because without environmental justice, there will be no climate justice.