People Power Now: Asia Pacific Movements Call for Systemic Transformation
27 October 2026 – Grassroots movements, community leaders, and activists from across the Asia Pacific and other regions have called for urgent systemic transformation rooted in people’s power, ecological justice and internationalist solidarity, following the Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific System Change Convergence held in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from 17–21 October 2026.
Hosted by Wahana Lingkungan Hidup Indonesia (WALHI/Friends of the Earth Indonesia) and Friends of the Earth Asia Pacific, the five-day convergence brought together participants from 14 countries in the Asia Pacific region, including civil society, community organisers, workers, researchers, youth leaders, lawyers and artists, alongside allies from Africa, Latin America, the United States and Europe to strengthen collective strategies for challenging the interconnected systems of exploitation, oppression and ecological destruction.’’
In their declaration, The Yogyakarta Statement: Call for Systemic Transformation, Rooted in People’s Power, participants condemned the corporate-driven destruction of ecosystems, rising authoritarianism, militarisation and deepening economic inequality. The convergence stressed moving beyond the neoliberal economic order to build resilient and sustainable economies that work for everyone in light of movements and protests around the world. WALHI presented their ideas of Ekonomi Nusantara, an alternative organisation of an economy rooted in ecological justice as a concrete vision of system change. They expressed solidarity with peoples struggling for freedom, justice and self-determination, including in Palestine, Myanmar and West Papua, and reaffirmed that people-led democracy must extend beyond elections to include communities’ control over their territories, resources and futures.
The convergence called for a feminist just energy transition, an end to fossil fuels, adequate public climate finance and reparations for climate-related loss and damage. It also affirmed Indigenous peoples’ and local communities’ rights, food sovereignty, agroecology, Blue Justice, public services and democratic control over economic and technological systems. The Convergence recalled the Spirit of Bandung and its relevance to our times decades later as an important moment in centering the sovereignty and self-determination of the peoples’ of the Global South.
The convergence reaffirmed that system change requires more than policy reform or a change of political leaders: it demands transforming the economic and political structures that drive inequality and ecological destruction, while building societies that put people and the planet before corporate profit.
Watch the full closing press conference here.
The Yogyakarta Statement: Call for Systemic Transformation, Rooted in People’s Power
https://consumer.org.my/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/THE-YOGYAKARTA-STATEMENT-Call-for-Systemic-Transformation-Rooted-in-Peoples-Power.docx-1.pdf
─ by Sahabat Alam Malaysia (Friends of the Earth)
Media Release, 27 October 2026