On August 21, we had the honor of being present, through the participation of Shannon Music, at the Global Ethical Balance Dialogue (BEG), held in Bogotá, Colombia. The gathering is one of the four pillars of social mobilization for COP30, which will take place in Belém do Pará, and brought together around 30 social, political, business, and artistic leaders, as well as representatives of Indigenous peoples, local communities, youth, scientists, and activists from the region.
Convened by Marina Silva, Brazil's Minister of the Environment and Climate Change, and Michelle Bachelet, former President of Chile and co-leader of the BEG for South America, Central America, and the Caribbean, the space sought to reflect on the actions humanity still needs to implement, from an ethical standpoint, to confront climate change while considering the most vulnerable populations.
Among the participants were also Sonia Guajajara, Brazil's Minister of Indigenous Peoples; André Corrêa do Lago, ambassador and President of COP30; Bárbara Saavedra, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society for Chile; Angela Mendes, a leading figure in socio-environmental activism in Brazil and daughter of environmental activist Chico Mendes; Tasso Azevedo, coordinator of MapBiomas, among many others.
In her intervention, Shannon Music, representing Fundación Avina, responded to the question: "Why do we continue to reproduce unsustainable models of production and consumption?" She shared some of the key messages from the Avina ecosystem, such as the need to shift from the paradigm of scarcity to that of care, to recognize that the climate crisis is already a lived reality for local communities, to adopt regenerative economics as a model for the future, to strengthen empowered participation of multiple actors and local leaderships, and to value the dialogue of different forms of knowledge to face our greatest challenges.
"Prosperity can and must be separated from unlimited material growth. To prosper means ensuring dignified, inclusive, and sustainable living conditions for all. In fact, there are enough resources and capacities on the planet to guarantee shared well-being; what we need is to organize them through justice and cooperation," summarized Music.
Through this participation, we reinforce our commitment to contribute to making COP30 a process built with diverse voices, every day of the year. Fundación Avina will continue to act in collaboration and based on its three central pillars — climate action, just and regenerative economy, and democratic innovation — so that solutions built locally in collaboration can have global impact.
