LA GUAJIRA, 10 July 2024 - Children from Colombia’s Indigenous Wayuu community have composed a powerful song to draw attention to the drought and water scarcity affecting their homeland and traditional way of life while demanding immediate action on climate change from policymakers, Save the Children said.   

The song, titled "We Are Asking for Water", debuted as part of Save the Children’s new campaign "Between the Sun and Water,” aimed at amplifying the voices of Wayuu children in northern Colombia ahead of COP16, a UN-backed summit on biodiversity in Colombia later this year.  

The song features lyrics such as "I swear it's not too late to start raising awareness... Let's take care of water. Let's take care of the earth. Let's make it a masterpiece," and also captures the children’s resilience and hopes for a sustainable future. 

Jasay*, 10, from the Wayuu community in Colombia, said:  

"Imagine a world where the sun shines brighter than ever and water is scarce. We want to be heard because climate change is affecting us greatly. Sometimes we can't go to school, other times we feel very tired, we can even faint. We call on decision-makers with budgetary power to do something that improves our lives.”  

For centuries, the Wayuu people have lived off the land, however, a series of crippling droughts and heatwaves have recently devastated the environment, which is central to their culture and survival.  

Extreme weather events around the world are becoming more frequent and severe as a result of the climate crisis, with children born in 2020 facing on average seven times as many scorching heatwaves and 2.6 times more droughts than their grandparents, according to Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) and Save the Children. 

In Colombia, only one in 30 Wayuu children living in rural areas has access to clean water. The water that is available is often taken from a ‘jaguey’, a natural aquifer which is reliant on rainwater and shared with livestock. This results in regular occurrences of diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases among children who drink the water. 

In addition to the song, the children are using videos, radio spots, banners, and booklets, to speak out against climate change, amplify their urgent demands, and share their concerns with decision-makers in Colombia. Save the Children has engaged 48 children and young people from the Los Olivos Indigenous community in Ríohacha, the Perramana community in Maicao, and various migrant and host communities in Maicao through the campaign.   

Lea, 17, from the Wayuu community said: 

"We want children, adolescents like us, to have more opportunities to speak with the government, companies, and these very important entities — the main contributors to negative environmental impact — However, it's also crucial for decision-makers, authorities, and companies to demonstrate how to address the environmental issue, given that they have been primarily responsible for this impact —  I ask them to remember children at COP16 in Cali, this is a stage to raise our voices."  

COP16 will be held in Cali, Colombia, from 21 October to1 November 2024, and will focus on negotiating the next steps to put the 2022 Kunming-Montreal agreement into action, which seeks to address the global decline in biodiversity, similar to how the Paris Agreement helps fight climate change. 

Erika Guillen Yepez, Regional Manager for the Caribbean region at Save the Children, said:  

"Although Indigenous and other traditional, rural peoples are the least responsible for climate change, they are often on the frontlines of its effects. The Wayuu community is facing water scarcity, which is being exacerbated by the climate crisis. The children’s new song ‘We are asking for water’ tells the story of their land, their struggles accessing clean water and their hopes with collective climate action.  

“Children in La Guajira want their voices heard. Through this campaign, we want to support them in getting their demands addressed because we are convinced that they are the Generation Hope.” 

In Colombia, Save the Children is helping children from the Wayuu community learn about climate change and promote resilience. Save the Children's programmes have taught them how to address vital topics like waste management and deforestation using skills such as painting and filming.  

In Latin America and the Caribbean and across the world, Save the Children is working with governments to find ways to increase funding for climate policies and actions that protect children’s rights.  

Save the Children works with, and for children, putting their rights and views first, and supporting them to tell their governments and human rights bodies how their lives are impacted by climate change and environmental degradation, so those accountable understand their obligations to children.   

Save the Children is implementing climate programmes in over 50 countries and delivering direct climate action – from working with communities to adapt to climate changes impacting them now, to forecasting future emergencies and strengthening communities’ ability to anticipate, adapt, prepare, respond, and recover.  

ENDS