On September 1 & 2, 2026, in Vitória da Conquista (Bahia, Brazil), the Miguel Hernández University of Elche (UMH) and Southwest Bahia State University (UESB) are hosting the Eco-Anxiety and Climate Change Citizen Laboratory. This event has attracted scientists, students, and members of the public, and there they are analyzing how they are dealing with the climate crisis and what solutions to it can be co-created by the communities themselves.

This activity is part of the Cli-Mind: Generation Climate Crisis: Eco-Anxiety and Youth Mental Health in the Context of Global Climate Change, an international project funded by the SPRINT Program of the Vice Rectorate for Internationalization and Cooperation at the UMH and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP).

Citizen Laboratory participants include representatives from Quilombo communities—traditional Afro-Brazilian communities historically formed by people of African descent who were once enslaved, who established settlements known as Quilombos and maintain close cultural and social ties to their territories—as well as representatives of the trans and LGBTIQ+ communities, college students, and other sectors of civil society. This diversity is enabling the incorporation of different perspectives on the social, territorial, and emotional impacts of climate change.

The Laboratory is led by Antonio Lafuente, a researcher emeritus at the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) and an international leader in citizen science and participatory methodologies. Through collaborative activities, the participants identify problems, share experiences, and work together on possible solutions to eco-anxiety and other effects of the climate emergency.

“While the climate crisis is global, its effects are felt locally and unevenly. In the face of the paralysis that eco-anxiety may cause, these labs show that many solutions can emerge from the community, through listening and shared action,” highlighted the Cli-Mind team.

At the UMH, Cli-Mind is led by Professor of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, María Pastor, and there is also participation by journalism faculty members, Alba García, Alicia de Lara, and Jesús Mula. This project examines the relationship between the climate crisis, emotional well-being of young people, and public communication about climate change.

This meeting in Brazil builds on a prior citizen workshop that took place in May of this year on the Elche Campus of the UMH. The experiences in both countries will allow for a comparison of how the same global challenges are perceived and addressed by different social and regional contexts.

During their stay at the UESB, the Cli-Mind team is also touring the Brazilian university’s radio and television studios to gain a deeper understanding of the media’s role in shaping public perception on climate change. The Cli-Mind journalism team is also meeting with UESB journalism faculty to explore future academic and scientific collaboration projects between both universities.