Climate change is a justice issue. Those with the least political and economic power (especially women and girls), and the least responsibility for the changing climate are affected the most.

King’s College London Chaplaincy has long-standing connections with the Amos Trust, a UK-based charity, which has partnered with the Nicaraguan organisation CEPAD (Council of Protestant Churches in Nicaragua) for over 30 years. CEPAD was founded in 1972 in the aftermath of a devastating earthquake near the capital city Managua, and has provided relief and support to communities and individuals across Nicaragua ever since. In recent years they have increasingly had to include a focus on sustainable community organisation and food security and environmental protection in the face of climate change – Nicaragua is the fourth most affected country in the world in this regard.

Building on this long-standing connection with CEPAD, since 2019 the Amos Trust has been engaging with global female climate activists in the wider Latin American region, leading to the initiation of the inaugural 2023 Climate Fellowship, which involved six young women from the Global South. Lessons learned from this pilot have informed the refinement of the Climate & Gender Fellowship for 2024-2026, with a focus on reducing vulnerability and enhancing women’s involvement in climate action in Mexico and Central America. For 2024-25, the Climate Fellowship Programme is supporting 12 young women across Central America and Mexico as they bring hope through local action in the face of the climate emergency and hear their stories.

We are very pleased that Alexia Lizaragga, Partnerships & Climate Fellowship Manager at the Amos Trust, will join us to share her experience of a recent visit to Mexico where she visited Climate Fellowship participants. Alexia’s report will highlight their projects and stories of struggle, resistance, and, above all, hope as they defend their land and natural resources.

All are welcome to join us – please feel free to bring your lunch! We’ll aim to wrap up the main conversation by 2pm (for those who need to get to lectures etc), but there may be time for further informal discussion after that for those who are able to stay a bit longer.

This event is primarily open to King's staff and students. If you are external to King's and wish to attend the event, please email clare.dowding@kcl.ac.uk by Friday 27 September so that access to campus can be arranged.

(Previous publicity for this event mentioned that we had hoped to be joined by staff from CEPAD as part of a wider UK tour organised by the Amos Trust this autumn, to talk about how CEPAD is working with rural communities in Nicaragua. However, in mid August CEPAD was listed as one of 1,500 Nicaraguan NGOs to have their licences revoked without warning as part of a clampdown by the Nicaraguan government. The situation for religious, charitable and media organisations in Nicaragua has been getting more difficult in recent years (see The 2024 Human Rights Watch Report for background), but despite this, CEPAD had been working alongside the Sandinista Regime at municipal, state and national levels and this decision came as a considerable surprise. CEPAD are appealing against the revocation of their license, but for the time being they are trying to find a way of continuing their vital work even though their bank account has been frozen and some of their assets seized.)