Juliana Sánchez García

Colombian youth climate leader mobilizing indigenous climate action networks

Juliana Sánchez García is a 25-year-old Colombian environmental lawyer and founder of Guardianes de los Andes, a network connecting 87 indigenous communities across the Andean region in climate resilience strategies. Since 2020, her organization has trained over 3,000 young indigenous leaders in carbon sequestration techniques and legal advocacy to protect ancestral lands from mining projects. Their 2021 campaign halted 14 deforestation permits in the Amazon-Andes corridor, saving 500,000 hectares of rainforest.

Sánchez pioneered the "Pachamama Data Project", using satellite imagery and indigenous ecological knowledge to map traditional farming zones. This system now guides 15 national parks in Colombia, integrating ancestral land use patterns with modern conservation science. Her 2023 report "Territories of Life: Indigenous Climate Solutions" was adopted by COP28 as a reference document for Article 6 negotiations.

She developed the first mobile app Kawsay Monitor (available on Google Play) allowing real-time reporting of illegal logging activities. This platform has enabled communities to document 2,300+ violations since 2022, leading to 17 successful court cases. Sánchez's work bridges traditional ecological knowledge with cutting-edge technology - her team's AI models predict climate impacts using 500 years of oral histories.

In 2024, she launched the Andean Youth Climate Fund, raising $4.2 million to support 50+ youth-led climate initiatives. Her TEDx talk "The Future of Climate Action Lies in Our Past" has become a foundational text for intergenerational climate strategies. Sánchez recently advised the UNDP's Indigenous Guardians Program, expanding its reach to 12 new countries in 2024.