Watch and Learn: Climate justice starts with empowering communities

Lifting a Curse tells a story of communities in Sierra Leone winning their fight for climate justice

What to know:

  • From mines to plantations, activities that threaten the planet often target communities with less power and wealth.
  • With the power of law in their hands, ordinary people can secure justice for their community and the planet.
  • Legal empowerment is vital to tackling the climate crisis. Watch and share this video to raise awareness!

Learn More about this cause:

World leaders are constantly debating our climate future - But communities who are being affected by environmental harm right now are being neglected and the role that grassroots movements play in protecting the environment is being ignored. 

From mining to large-scale agriculture, economic activities that threaten the planet occur in communities with less wealth, power, voice and choice. Their rivers are contaminated, their forests clearcut, and their air polluted.  

The best way to secure a more equitable climate for all of us is to root out the injustices that have led to this crisis - and to support the grassroots activists on the ground who have the answers.

Around the globe, people are uniting and exercising their rights, showing they can overcome power imbalances to secure justice for their communities and contribute to the stewardship of our natural world.

Watch Lifting A Curse - a short documentary from our Recovery Plan for the World partners Namati - profiling environmental justice and community mobilization in action.  

When rural villagers in Sierra Leone had their land seized by a Chinese rubber company, they came together and, with the guidance of community paralegals, learned how to use the law to stand up for their own rights and demand justice.

By fighting to protect themselves, they’re protecting us all.