After two weeks of negotiations between more than 50 countries, the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) ended last Friday without establishing a High Seas Treaty — once again leaving more than two-thirds of the global ocean unprotected. But important progress was also made, which the Only One community of supporters has helped push for. World leaders are closer than ever before to finalizing the treaty, and there’s reason to be optimistic that the next negotiation will be the last step in the nearly two-decades–long process. We can’t let up the pressure now, and we need you with us! Can you help build momentum for the coalition to protect the High Seas by sharing our petition with your network? We’re just shy of our goal of 75,000 signatures.
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Climate Warrior | Diwigdi Valiente
Diwigdi “Diwi’ Valiente is fighting to end plastic pollution in the Guna Yala comarca indígena (Indigenous province) off the coast of Panama.
Image © Cristina Mittermeier
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Diwi Valiente, 2022 Tide Turner
Diwigdi “Diwi” Valiente is an Indigenous climate activist and government official working to improve sustainability and tackle plastic pollution in his home country of Panama and beyond.
Diwi’s Story
Hailing from a small island in the comarca indígena of Guna Yala off the coast of Panama, Diwi was instilled with a deep love and respect for nature from the moment he was born: his great-grandmother would fish, prepare food, and bathe him in herbs, and taught him that a connection to the land and sea is spiritual as well as physical. Now, Diwi is determined to help free his Indigenous community from the tons of plastic waste washing up on their shores.
Gifted with a capacity for connecting with others on a genuine level, Diwi is able to break down cultural barriers and advocate for bold change in a world that has continually ignored the effects of a broken climate on Indigenous, marginalized, and coastal communities.
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Diwi went to university in Switzerland to study sustainable tourism and Indigenous tourism policy, and from the beginning, he hoped to bring back everything he learned and use it to help the Guna people thrive. He went on to become the first Indigenous government official to hold a leadership position in the Ministry of Tourism in Panama, a role he still fulfills today and approaches with passion and commitment. And as one of only a few climate activists with experience of working in government, Diwi is uniquely positioned to move the needle where it matters most.
Diwi’s Journey
1989
Diwi is born in 1989 and grows up between Panama City and in the Guna Yala comarca, where his father is from. During his trips to the islands, Diwi falls in love with nature and realizes the importance of protecting the environment.
2014
Diwi is startled and saddened to discover that his people, the Guna, are predicted to become some of the first climate refugees in the world due to sea level rise submerging their islands.
2016
Diwi founds Burwigan (meaning “children” in the local language), a nonprofit organization dedicated to raising ecological awareness and inspiring people to take action on climate change and plastic pollution across Panama and in Indigenous communities.
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
2019
Diwi increases his focus on fighting to end plastic pollution as he sees how little is being done overall in Panama. His efforts include collecting plastic trash from the Guna Yala comarca indígena to take back to the mainland, and engaging citizens to reduce single-use plastic on a national level.
2020
Diwi steps into the role of Head of Sustainability at the Ministry of Tourism in Panama, making history by becoming the first Indigenous person to hold a leadership position in this department.
2021
Diwi speaks at the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, United Kingdom, about the role of business in realizing a nature-positive economy, how to effectively preserve and safeguard the natural world through planetary conservation, and ending the war on the natural world through climate resolutions.
2022
Diwi becomes a Tide Turner.
Photo: Cristina Mittermeier
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