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Join us for our inaugural conference to open Women's History Month, dedicated to exploring the intersection of women and green colonialism.
Follow this link to reserve your space at this free event - Hurry! Places are limited
The green energy transition is helping us reimagine a world without fossil fuels… but at whose expense?
Saturday 1st March 2025
17:00 - 21:45 pm
Espacio Afro, C. de Cáceres, 49, Arganzuela, 28045 Madrid
The event will be in both Spanish and English, please bring headphones to be able to listen to the English and Spanish Interpretation via your mobile device. We will not be providing food at the event so please do bring your own refreshments.
Want to know more?
For our "Women and Green Colonialism" conference, we are going to be examining the dark side of the renewable energy transition and how this impacts women of the global majority. We will be premiering our short documentary “Apaa Land”, highlighting the powerful stories of women from the Apaa region of Uganda who are resisting dispossession and displacement due to "green" mineral extraction for renewable energy technologies.
During the event we will explore how the renewable energy transition is often driven by unethical resource extraction and green-washing tactics, which attempt to conceal the realities of occupation, land displacement, and the continued extraction of fossil fuels in the Apaa region of Uganda and beyond.
We hope that you will not only leave this event informed but also energised to advocate for a truly just and equitable energy transition.
If you’re not sure what “Green Colonialism”, or "Green-washing" is, check out our Instagram page here where we will be sharing key definitions and examples of green colonialism in both Spanish and English.
Closer to the event we will share the schedule on this page and we will be updating this page with details of the speakers who will be sharing their lived experiences and insight with us on the day.
Meet the Speakers
Tugume Rachel (She/Her/Ella), Stop EACOP & EACOP Host Communities Activist
Tugume Rachel and her children are directly affected by the East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP) and are at threat of being dispossessed of their land, along with many others in their villiage. She will be sharing her lived experience and exposing how greenwashing is being used to justify this destructive fossil fuel project.
Spanning 1,445 kilometers across Uganda and Tanzania, EACOP poses devastating consequences for local communities, wildlife, and the planet. The project threatens to displace thousands from their land, further deepening social and environmental injustices.
Rachel is part of both the EACOP Host Communities movement and the Stop EACOP movement which campaign to raise awareness of the harms of EACOP and mobilise global solidarity against the banks and companies funding this pipeline.
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Nayua Aduh (She/Her/Ella)
Nayua Aduh is a member of la Red Ecosocial Saharaui and a decolonial activist. She was part of the group of activists who denounced the illegal plundering of Saharawi natural resources at the Siemens Gamesa shareholders meeting and of the group of activists who mobilized against the deportation of the Saharawi activist Youssef to Morocco.
She is going to be talking about the Moroccan state's use of green-washing to enable their continued occupation of Western Sahara.
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Patricia Orti (She/Her/Ella)
Patricia Orti was born in Kisangani (Democratic Republic of Congo) The daughter of a Congolese general who gave his life for his country, after the death of her mother, she was adopted in Spain, although she will join us online from Switzerland.
She regularly collaborates with the non-profit organization “Focuscongo”, founded by Pappy Orion, a direct relative of hers, both in person in Congo and from Europe.
This organization helps people in need in the country, building hospitals, houses, orphanages and schools.
Marizol Gonzalez (She/Her/Ella)
Marizol graduated in Social and Cultural Anthropology in 2019 from the Autonomous University of Madrid. In 2020 she completed her studies in the Master's degree in Contemporary Arab and Islamic Studies at the same university. She is a PhD candidate in January 2025 in the Department of Contemporary History of the Autonomous University of Madrid, following a line of research around gender, national and epistemic decoloniality and Human Rights.
Marizol is going to facilitate a closing activity to guide our audience in understanding the colonial roots of mainstream renewable energy projects and tangible steps they can take to ensure a just and equitable transition that does not perpetuate exploitation and displacement.
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Necmettin Türk, Decolonial researcher-activist (He/Him/El)
Necmettin Türk is a longstanding human rights and environmental activist-scholar based in Kurdistan and Europe. He completed his MA in human rights at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg in 2021, with his master’s thesis focusing on the legal and political-economic dimensions of land-grabbing. His research explored its implications for peasants’ rights to food, land, and development, with a specific emphasis on socio-economic and ecological vulnerabilities among peasants. Currently, he is pursuing his PhD at the University of Hamburg. His research project examines how the democratic autonomy of Rojava responds to the colonial legacy concerning its decolonisation strategies, particularly in the development of ecological agricultural systems, community-based governance and socio-ecological transformation within regions marked by conflict and resistance.
Paula Mariel Reyes Carrasco, Friday’s For Future Salamanca (She/Her Ella)
Paula is an ecosocial activist from the Dominican Republic, with over 10 years of international experience in Environmental topics in NGOs and private sector. She holds a PhD in Environmental Education for Development and Sustainability, which underscores her commitment to promoting sustainable practices and educating communities on environmental issues.
As a passionate advocate for ecosocial justice and gender equity, She is deeply committed to addressing the intersection of environmental justice and social inclusion. Her profesional and activism journey have been driven by a desire to challenge systemic inequalities, where initiatives often overlook the voices and rights of marginalized communities, especially women. With her work as an activist and her PhD in Environment Education, she has worked to amplify underrepresented perspectives, foster inclusive decision-making, and promote solutions that empower participation while safeguarding our planet.
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Olanya Olenge Tonny (He/Him/El)
Olanya Olenge Tonny is a Natural Resource Consultant, environmental activist, and climate advocate dedicated to driving climate change initiatives in Uganda. As the founder of NILE TV Uganda, he uses media as a platform to amplify environmental and land rights issues.
With a background in Engineering, he specializes in mineral assessment across Uganda, particularly in Northern Uganda, ensuring that landowners receive fair value for their land and helping to combat land grabbing. His work bridges environmental justice, media advocacy, and technical expertise to protect both people and the planet.
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Eva Maria Fjellheim, Southern Saami researcher (She/Her/Ella)
Eva Maria Fjellheim is a Southern Saami scholar, writer, educator and radio documentary producer working on decolonial struggles and solidarity across Indigenous geographies. In 2024, she successfully defended her PhD in Indigenous studies at the Centre for Saami Studies at UiT, the Arctic University of Norway. Her research and thesis concern dispossession of Saami reindeer herding landscapes by the wind energy industry as a form of green colonialism.
Sara Buri (She/Her/Ella), SOS Racismo & Conciencia Afro
Economist and ecofeminist. Head of administration and finances at Conciencia Afro, activist at SOS Racismo Madrid and former head of sustainable finances at Ecologistas en Acción. Co-author of 'Alerta Greenwashing' and translator of 'Negra. La vida desconocida de Claudette Colvin'.
Sara will be speaking on how Anti-racist activists and Feminist can incorporate climate justice into their advocacy and activism.
Leah Pattem (She/Her/Ella), Madrid No Frills Founder
Leah Pattem is a multi-award-winning journalist, broadcaster, and documentary filmmaker, whose background in climate science has given her a deep understanding of environmental issues on a local and global scale. Leah reports for major outlets, including the BBC, El País, The Guardian, The Times, and Al Jazeera, covering breaking news, in-depth analysis and original investigative features.
In 2016, Leah founded Madrid No Frills, a hyper-local journalism platform that highlights Madrid’s social issues, movements and identity, and which has become a vital voice in the city’s media landscape.
As an experienced teacher, Leah leads multimedia journalism courses for school and university students, as well as professional journalists looking to expand their expertise.
She will be speaking about the role of the media in shaping narratives about green colonialism.
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Inès D’haese Pérez Landa (She/Her/Ella), Extinction Rebellion Madrid Activist
Inès D’haese Pérez Landa is a Franco-Mexican political science student at the Complutense University of Madrid and a climate activist with Extinction Rebellion Madrid.
She will be discussing the responsibility of civil disobedience environmental movements to look beyond their immediate borders and advocate for a just transition that ensures a sustainable and equitable world for all.
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