The Third Forum on Human Rights Defenders in Environmental Matters in Latin America and the Caribbean was held between April 7 and 10, 2025, in Saint Kitts and Nevis, a key space for deepening the implementation of the Escazú Agreement in the region. Convened by ECLAC in its role as Secretariat of the Agreement, the Forum has established itself in this third edition as a regional milestone to advance the discussion on the rights of those who defend the environment, land, and Mother Earth.

#ForAllWomenandGirls is a rallying call for action on the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action. Sandra Patricia Aguilar Carabalí leads youth and women’s resistance in northern Cauca, Colombia, a region marked by violence and environmental challenges.

En Ecuador, las mujeres rurales, en especial las amazónicas, tienen una estrecha relación con su territorio y lideran la conservación del medio ambiente. La desigualdad de género que se refleja en el limitado acceso a recursos naturales y económicos es uno de sus mayores desafíos.

Geovânia Machado Aires is a professor and holds a master's degree in Political Science and International Relations from the graduate programme Social and Political Cartography of the Amazon at the State University of Maranhão and the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro. She is a researcher for the New Social Cartography of the Amazon project and the Center of Sciences and Knowledge project: Creation of Living Museums in the Affirmation of Knowledge of Traditional Peoples and Communities.

In Ecuador, rural women, especially Amazonian women, maintain a close relationship with their territory and are leaders in environmental conservation. Gender inequality is one of their most significant challenges, reflected in their limited access to natural and economic resources. With the aim of reducing inequalities, in Ecuador, UN Women developed a project focused on improving the situation and position of Amazonian women in socio-environmental processes, promoting the conservation of biodiversity, forests, and ecosystem services, as well as in production processes to address climate change.

Patrícia Santos is a Brazilian mangaba collector originally from Barreira do Coqueiral, Sergipe. She is a Tourism Technologist and holds a Master in Development and Environment by Universidade Federal de Sergipe. She is currently the president of the Association of Collectors of Mangaba in the Municipality of Barra dos Coqueiros (ACMBC). Her work, supported by UN Women in Brazil and the European Union, through the projects "Connecting Women, Defending Rights," and "Territorial Defense and Strengthening of the Sociocultural Identity of Women Collectors of Mangaba in Sergipe" impacts the lives of 76 women in her community.

Sandra Díaz is a global expert in biodiversity and ecology. This Argentine biologist goes further in her work, as she establishes a connection between the preservation of nature and the economic and social models that threaten it. Designating her as a "guardian of biodiversity," in 2019, Nature magazine included her in its top 10 most influential personalities in science. She also received two important awards: the Princess of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research and the Bunge y Born Award. In 2021 she was recognized with the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award for classifying the traits of 200,000 plant species and their functions in ecosystems around the planet.

On the margins of the annual UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security in New York, at a side event on 30 October, survivors, leaders and experts came together to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the mandate of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

While parts of the Amazon are in flames across Brazil and eastern Bolivia—from fires largely caused by burning to clear arable land—communities in northern Bolivia are protecting their forests through a series of economic empowerment projects.