Global Mobilization: Fires and Droughts in South America
Colectivo Quipa
Country (ies): United States
Scope: Global
Year: 2024
01
CONTEXT
Amid the fire and drought season in critical South American biomes—such as the Amazon, the Gran Chaco, and the Cerrado—a coalition of indigenous and environmental organizations aimed to turn a regional alarm into an international call to action. New York Climate Week offered an international spotlight to position the central idea: indigenous territorial rights are a key climate policy to halt the devastation caused by wildfires and other threats.
02
CHALLENGE
Making a complex topic—the relationship between the climate crisis, forest fires, and Indigenous Peoples' rights—attractive to international media. In addition to finding the right media angle, the challenge involved identifying and producing scientific data to back the calls of participating Indigenous leaders and to help position them with political and technical authority.
03
SOLUTION
A communication architecture for advocacy was developed around a press conference held during New York Climate Week:
- Direction and coordination with multiple actors: Articulating with partner organizations and aligning messages, spokespersons, and timing for a coherent public launch during Climate Week.
- Multilingual press kit: Developing editorial materials for journalists and a distribution strategy for international media, featuring ready-to-use informational resources to facilitate coverage.
- Evidence to sustain credibility: Creating a fact sheet in English and Spanish with data from NASA, alongside maps and technical inputs that backed the urgency of the Indigenous leaders' call to action and elevated the quality of media coverage.
- Tracking and systematization of results: Monitoring coverage by countries and languages to measure penetration and ensure message continuity within the news cycle.
04
IMPACT
Media mobilization results: The press conference turned a regional environmental emergency into an international conversation with a political focus: the role of indigenous territorial rights as a condition for halting devastation and strengthening climate response.
- Global reach with editorial syndication: 101 press articles were generated, resulting in a potential reach of over 125 million people in the month following the event.
- Internationalization of the message: Coverage expanded to 23 countries, taking the conversation to audiences across Latin America, North America, Europe, and Oceania.
- Accessible message for diverse audiences: Distribution in four languages, ensuring its reach to new audiences.
- Evidence and credibility: The informational package was based on data and maps, allowing media coverage to complement the testimonies and calls to action of Indigenous leaders with NASA data.
