Barranquilla+20

Founded by Xiomara Acevedo in 2012, Fundación Barranquilla+20 is an educational initiative promoting climate awareness and action to children and young people. Colombia is a country suffering from reduced freshwater, land instability and increasing sea levels, making it highly at risk of future climate disaster. Barranquilla+20 began as a decentralised movement of young people campaigning for climate action, water and biodiversity protection and conservation, before formally becoming an NGO in 2018.
Xiomara has worked with One Young World extensively since first attending the Summit in 2017. She feels that having the support that One Young World can offer is important when working in difficult environments, insofar as it demonstrates that young leaders are not alone and that they can be part of powerful conversations. Barranquilla+20 has gone from strength to strength, organising projects alongside prestigious partners like the Gates Foundation to highlight the importance of gender in climate justice and strengthen the capacity of young women leaders in the climate space. Other projects include Guardians of Bocas de Cenizas, where Barranquilla+20 trains and supports local communities to protect biodiversity in a critical region, and Youth for Climate Emergency, a course and campaign for activists and citizens on climate change management. It has also organised climate marches involving 10,000 people.
Barranquilla+20 has worked to transform school infrastructure in an environmentally sustainable direction, creating a circular model of education which integrates water solutions, energy efficiency, climate curriculum, food waste, and community. The project, known as Low Carbon Schools, has also expanded its reach, working with partners in Paraguay and Bolivia and with hopes to extend their work across Latin America. Xiomara believes in downscaling the conversation around climate change in order to make it more approachable, so that local communities with deep territorial knowledge and climate memory across generations can contribute to the solutions the world needs.
"One Young World has helped me a lot with leadership because it is a Community of leaders, and this shows me that I am in the right community. It is a Community of doers, and One Young World fuels me.”