ColombiaEducation · Drought
In Manaure, La Guajira, children and adolescents from the Wayuu Pesuapa indigenous community created the collective “La Nación Verde” (Wayuu Environmental Children) to respond to the drought, the loss of water in the jagüeyes and the presence of extractive companies. With the support of the NGO Nación Wayuu, they planted more than 500 trees and carried out waste cleaning, wildlife rescue and environmental training sessions among peers.
In Manaure, La Guajira, children and adolescents from the Wayuu Pesuapa indigenous community created the collective “La Nación Verde” (Wayuu Environmental Children) to respond to the drought, the loss of water in the jagüeyes and the presence of extractive companies. With the support of the NGO Nación Wayuu, they planted more than 500 trees and carried out waste cleaning, wildlife rescue and environmental training sessions among peers.
Colombia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change globally despite its historically low contribution of emissions, with high exposure to floods, droughts and landslides that affect the population, infrastructure and water availability. La Guajira, an ancestral Wayuu territory, is the department most affected by climate change according to the Ministry of the Environment, with prolonged droughts that aggravate child malnutrition and the structural shortage of drinking water.
Given the drought that dries up traditional jagüeyes, the central adaptive objective is soil protection and moisture retention through the planting of native trees adapted to the semi-arid climate (dividivi, trupillo, cardón), along with community training for the climate resilience of the Wayuu people.
Planting more than 500 trees adapted to the semi-arid climate (caracolí, trupillo, leucaena, moringa, guayacán, olive tree, cardón) as an adaptation measure against drought; cleaning and garbage collection days; wildlife rescue and release; periodic training on waste management and biodiversity, taught by a biologist who accompanies the process; and replication of this learning by the children themselves towards other minors in their territory.
The Pesuapa indigenous community (Manaure) and, by replica of knowledge, other Wayuu communities of La Guajira. The active core of the group consists of boys, girls and adolescents. There are more than 500 indigenous communities that are grouped together in the Nación Wayuu. The work team is between 10 and 15 people
Wayuu children and youth founded, named "The Green Nation" and support the collective on their own initiative; They are not beneficiaries of an external program but rather the direct formulators and executors of the measure, with technical support from a local NGO.
Network active on a sustained basis for more than four years (2020-2024 and onwards); periodic planting, cleaning and wildlife rescue days; national media visibility of the Wayuu water crisis; direct testimonies from children (Jasael Vargas Silva, Luis Sebastián Córdoba, Edwin Francisco Herrera) documenting the effect of the drought on traditional jagüeyes; strengthening future community leadership.
José Silva Duarte, director (info@nacionwayuuong.com), ONG Nación Wayuu. Website: https://nacionwayuuong.org/ ; X: @OngWayuu
Mixed
La Guajira faces a semi-arid climate aggravated by increasingly prolonged droughts. The jagüeyes, which are traditional artificial wells that the Wayuu community depends on for human consumption, fishing and animal husbandry (goats), are drying out, reducing access to water and food and threatening ancestral subsistence practices and children's food security.
Colombia has a climate regulatory framework (Law 1931 of 2018, NDC before the UNFCCC) and has prioritized indigenous children and youth in its climate participation spaces. However, implementation gaps persist in remote territories such as La Guajira, where the State has been questioned for its late response to the Wayuu humanitarian and environmental crisis.
The NGO Nación Wayuu (Nación Wayuu Indigenous Movement) provides direct technical and organizational support to the children's group. A biologist (Lorena Castillo) teaches the environmental training and an ethno-educator (Isolina Silva Duarte) is the pedagogical and care reference for the group. No formal alliances with state entities are identified for this measure.
As an enabling factor, the strong Wayuu cultural identity and daily bond with the territory stand out (children play and learn in nature without depending on technology); sustained support from a local indigenous NGO with community legitimacy. The context of historical state abandonment of La Guajira is identified as conditioning factors; presence of extractive companies that generate territorial tension; insecurity for the leaders of the accompanying NGO (its director has suffered several documented attacks), which introduces continuity risks.
Strengthening the Wayuu cultural and spiritual identity linked to Mother Earth; construction of territorial peace through environmental care; training of future community leaders; intergenerational transmission of traditional ecological knowledge (wayuunaiki names of native species).
High in principle: the model (self-managed children's group + support from a local indigenous NGO) is replicable in other Wayuu communities in Riohacha, Uribia, Manaure and Maicao, where the Nación Wayuu Indigenous Movement already has a consolidated presence and impact.
Sustained for more than four years thanks to the low cost of its activities (planting, cleaning, training) and the community appropriation of child leadership; Its continuity depends, however, on the accompanying NGO maintaining presence and security in the territory.
Nación Wayuu NGO: https://nacionwayuuong.org/; Video of the collective (Nación Wayuu ONG): https://nacionwayuuong.org/wp-content/uploads/NINOS.mp4; Nación Wayuu Indigenous Movement: https://movimientoindigenanacionwayuu.org/; Wayuu environmentalist children: guardians of nature in La Guajira (Radio Nacional de Colombia): https://www.radionacional.co/actualidad/medio-ambiente/la-guajira-ninos-wayuu-cuidan-el-medio-ambiente; NGO Nación Wayuu continues to bring solutions for access to water to indigenous communities of La Guajira (La Guajira Noticias): https://www.laguajiranoticias.com/ong-nacion-wayuu-continua-llevando-soluciones-para-el-acceso-al-agua-a-comunidades-indigenas-de-la-guajira/ ; We introduce you to the Wayúu indigenous community in Colombia (Accion contra el Hambre): https://accioncontraelhambre.org/es/actualidad/te-presentamos-la-comunidad-indigena-wayuu-colombia