Living Nature

This Living Nature 2021 session offers teachings and lessons from the Arhuaco, an Indigenous community from Colombia.

Ati Viviam Villafaña, an Arhuaca environmental activist, shares cosmovisions and wisdom from her people, the Arhuaco People of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in Colombia, known to them as ‘The Heart of the Earth’. She joins Living Nature whilst on her journey to COP26.

This event was hosted by Andrea Langlois.

• Ati Gunnawi Viviam Misslin Villafaña Izquierdo is a 24-year-old member of the Arhuaco indigenous community of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, the ‘Heart of the World’, in Colombia. A student of Political Science at Javeriana University, and research assistant at Colombia’s scientific and biodiversity Humboldt Institute, she is part of “Unite for Climate Action”, a diverse group of young people from Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe, connected through experience of climate change and seeking to be heard in decision-making spaces. She brings a young, Arhuaco voice to environmental and climate activism, and has been representing her indigenous community as a speaker at recent events such as the “Colombian Conference 2021: Disruptive Solutions for Challenging Times”, organized by Massachusetts Institute of Technology-MIT, Harvard, Boston and Columbia Universities, and a panelist of “Custodians of Life: indigenous defenders of sacred natural sites and territories” at the 2021 IUCN World Conservation Congress.

“Indigenous people are essential. They are our biggest allies to fight climate change.”

–Ati Viviam Villafaña