🌎🌟 ALAF: Newsletter #01 [EN]
In this edition we have UN Summit of the Future, G20 Social, Dubai Future Forum and Oceânico II Event 🪅
Bienvenides - Bem-vindes - Welcome
You are receiving our very first newsletter because you are part of our ecosystem and are interested in learning more about the Latin Futures Association (ALAF). From now on, you will receive our news once a month and will be able to find out more about ALAF's activities, partnerships, projects and events, as well as getting to know our members a little at a time, among other content.
The Latin Futures Association (ALAF) is a non-profit NGO that operates as an association of Latin American members interested in debating and building futures centered on the well-being of future generations. Our mission is to make Latin America a region recognized as a protagonist in leading futures.
Since the global launch of ALAF in November 2024, we have shared insights with our members and received many provocations from the conversations that began at the launch webinar and the Dubai Future Forum 2024. We share some of that (and more) with you here.
Enjoy your reading!
Even before it was publicly born, ALAF was already active - and taking part in possibly the biggest futures conference of the decade: the UN Summit of the Future.
On September 22 and 23, 2024, the United Nations organized the Summit of the Future. Convened by Secretary-General António Guterres, the event brought together 10,000 global representatives, including members of civil society and youth advocates. The Summit consisted of panel discussions, keynote speeches and side events, organized around five main issues, as well as cross-cutting themes such as human rights, the climate crisis and gender equality. As a result of this meeting, world leaders adopted a Pact for the Future which includes a Global Digital Compact and a Declaration on Future Generations. This signed Pact proposes 56 actions (subdivided into various fronts) for a common future among nations. The vast majority of Latin American countries adopted the Pact. They abstained from voting Cuba🇨🇺 and Bolívia🇧🇴, and Nicarágua🇳🇮rejeitou the Pact. Organized by the School of International Futures and Futures Friends, the Building Hopeful Futures festival took place in parallel to the Summit, seizing the moment and mobilizing action around the Declaration on Future Generations. Lua Couto, ALAF's Director of Future Generations, led an online panel entitled “Weaving Futures: Ancestral Wisdom and Artificial Intelligence shaped by Collective Hopes”. Read here 🔗 the article Lua produced after her participation.
ALAF was born publicly with a webinar on November 12, 2024...
We were publicly born on November 12, 2024 with an ALAF introductory webinar led by ALAF's President Lydia Caldana. The webinar reinforced our mission to transform the world's perception of Latin America into a leading region for the future and how we are working to make it happen. You can check out the full recording of the webinar at this link. 🔗
...and the webinar was followed by the inauguration of ALAF's series of six masterclasses.
The moment of birth was also the premiere of our series of masterclasses, offered free of charge to the public. The masterclass series was created to address a central theme for us: “REGENERATIVE FUTURES: Integrating Ancestral Wisdom and Future Generations for the Future of Latin America”. The first class, led by our vice-president, Joice Preira, talked about “Literacy, Literacy and Literacy of Futures”, an essential starting point for those who want to specialize in the universe of futures and foresight, as well as proposing very relevant reflections for those who already work in the area. Those who registered and took part live received a certificate of participation issued by ALAF, but for those who wish to watch the class, it has been made available in its entirety on YouTube. 🔗
ALAF was present at the G20 Social in Rio de Janeiro.
Right after the birth webinar, on November 14, Rio de Janeiro was home to the G20 Social. The G20 (Group of 20) is an international forum comprising the world's largest economies and the European Union, created in 1999 as a response to the global financial crises of the 1990s. Over time, it has become one of the main spaces for global economic debate and coordination, bringing up issues such as policies to tackle climate change and foster sustainable growth, with invitations to participate in meetings and discussions often extended to non-members and international organizations (such as the UN, IMF and World Bank). G20 Social (the Social Engagement arm of the G20), is a working group focused on specifically addressing social issues within the broader scope of the G20.
ALAF was present (and shone) at the Hub for Futures and Governance, promoted by the School of International Futures, the Toriba Institute and the International Youth Observatory. The Hub featured two panels: “Building Bridges between Global and National Governance for Future Generations” and “Participatory Foresight: Youth and Climate Adaptation”, integrated by founding members Tatyane Ramos, Maria Clara Pessoa, Eloá Fernandes and Graciela Selaimen, who is also director of the Toriba Institute.
From Rio to Dubai: ALAF's debut to a global audience at Dubai Future Forum 2024.
Dubai Future Forum is an annual conference that brings together 2,500 people from 70+ countries for 2 official days and additional days featuring 150+ speakers and 70+ workshops. Being part of the Dubai Future Forum was an intense - and at the same time inspiring - experience for our delegation. Intense because there were numerous events within the event itself, including the launch of ALAF, which demanded even more of us. Inspiring because we were able to meet people full of history and knowledge to exchange, coming from different countries and with very rich cultures
ALAF's participation was an event with a presentation of who we are and why we were born, followed by an open microphone for the entire audience to exchange with us and with each other. This meeting reinforced the importance of ALAF in broadening the Latin American perspective on futures, something confirmed by the global partners who attended.
Many thanks to the Dubai Future Foundation, which, in addition to the stage, offered us invitations, tickets and accommodation, allowing ALAF to participate and a plural delegation to represent us there. The seed was sown there, but many positive discussions have already sprouted and are multiplying.
And from Dubai to Ceará with the Oceânico II project.
ALAF is proud to announce that it is an official supporter of Oceânico II. Oceânico II is a milestone for tourism and environmental innovation in Ceará, connecting to the UN's global agenda for the Decade of Ocean Science and SDG 14. The event creates and promotes visions of contextual alternative futures that work with the desires and pains of the lives that inhabit Brazil's ocean and coastal environment.
With workshops led by professional futurists and experts in the blue economy and energy transition in Fortaleza, we created scenarios about possible futures that will be turned into science fiction shorts, helping to imagine new paths for ocean conservation. The workshops took place on December 16 and 17, 2024. Stay tuned for upcoming newsletters in which we'll share the fruits of Oceânico.
Our heartfelt thanks to RITO for the invitation, and may the next ones come! Organized by: Instituto Winds for Future, Secretaria de Turismo do Estado do Ceará (SETUR), RITO, ALAF, Elephant Co-working and O Otimista.
Who is part of ALAF?
Each month, we will present two ALAF members. This month's talents are:
Maurício Hernández Ramírez - “In 2021-2022 I worked on a project called ”Future use of Lethal Autonomous Weapons (LAWs) by criminal Non-State Actors, and its possible effects on governance, national security and democracy. A futures studies analysis for the case of drug cartels in Mexico in 2050”. Several of the things I put in those scenarios, which were originally towards 2050, are ALREADY coming true, as of now, in Mexico.” Read here. 🔗
Tatyane Ramos de Oliveira - “TPL; is an investigation into human and machine imaginaries, into how imaginaries are trained, into the visual politics that invent, produce and erase worlds, into how small fragments can affect large systems, into the fragments of my own history. By choosing to use the archives of black families as my basis, my intention is to open up a practical conversation about spiraling time, where the past passes in front of us to pave the way for a future that sees us today. Rescuing those ways of thinking - those systems - that are outside the canon, and that are necessary to sustain any form of creation that cherishes life is what I'm doing at TPL; there is no artificial intelligence without natural intelligence, and TPL; is my investigation and practice of that.” See her Tedx Talk, “Power of Black Files and Prompts in AI Image Generation”. 🔗
Become an ALAF member and expand your network! (Latin Americans only)
From expanding knowledge to training to strategically face future challenges, there are many benefits to being part of our network, such as:
Access to the online community of thinkers, professionals, academics and practitioners from a wide range of fields
Exposure to your profile on ALAF networks
Access to content produced by ALAF for members only
Participation in online debate, information and education events
Participation in occasional face-to-face events
Networking with like-minded people
Opportunity to actively participate in ALAF's work fronts
Opportunity to lead projects, forums, study circles and curate content
ALAF in the media
