GTI PIACI: Communication and Advocacy for Cross-Border Digital Surveillance
Amazon Conservation Team Colombia | GTI PIACI
Country (ies): Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname, and Venezuela
Scope: Regional | Global
Year: 2025
01
CONTEXT
The GTI PIACI is a regional network of 21 Indigenous and non-governmental organizations in South America working to protect Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) and advocate locally, regionally, and globally for the respect of their decision to remain in isolation.
In 2025, Colmena Lab supported this work with a digital communication strategy aimed at strengthening visibility and informational coherence, coordinating communicators across Amazonian territories, and providing real-time coverage of international advocacy spaces.
02
CHALLENGE
Coordinating and articulating the communication of a network of 21 organizations distributed across eight countries to transform territorial alerts and technical reports into highly useful political messages. This involved addressing topics such as rights, legal frameworks, and government decisions without losing territorial legitimacy. Simultaneously, sustaining a presence during high-profile media moments with rapid response capacity and consistency.
03
SOLUTION
A communication and advocacy system was designed and operated based on four key axes:
- Network governance and territorial co-creation: Coordinating with network communicators to align priorities, validate messages, and sustain a coherent regional voice.
- Digital newsroom and rapid response: Implementing a direct-access platform featuring press kits, maps, and verified data, designed for international media to cover territorial alerts in real-time.
- Community strengthening and amplification networks: Managing digital communities and collaborative production to disseminate timely and verified information during key moments.
- Multilateral advocacy: Executing a communication strategy during COP30 that included daily updates, coordination with on-the-ground communicators, and continuous monitoring of the conversation to sustain presence and drive GTI PIACI's specific narrative during a period of peak global attention.
- Media intelligence to adjust and sustain the strategy: Continuous monitoring of the global digital and media ecosystem using tools like Meltwater and Metricool to track trends, narratives, keywords, and platform performance, allowing for real-time strategic course correction based on updated evidence.
04
IMPACT
The system enabled scaled visibility and, above all, turn GTI PIACI into a technical benchmark in an environment where attention is triggered by territorial risk and political decisions.
- Reach and Mobilization: +1,000 pieces of content; 558,606 people mobilized; +130 press releases; +170 million people reached.
- Response during critical peaks: 154,177 impressions in 24 hours and a +189% growth in impressions/24h during key events.
- Technical advocacy among key audiences: LinkedIn reached an 18.60% engagement rate (well above average standards), with 26,240 impressions and 4,540 interactions, consolidating its position as a channel for technical and political influence.
- International media validation: Presence of the topic in Tier 1 media such as The Guardian, Mongabay, and Agência Brasil, connecting the issue of Indigenous People in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI) with other topics like climate, biodiversity, and human rights.
- Multilateral milestone: At COP30, an explicit mention of PIACI (including self-determination) was incorporated into the official text on Energy Transition approved at the summit, and GTI PIACI successfully highlighted this precedent, gaining relevance in the conversation.
