FRIDAY, MARCH 13, 2020
10 A.M. EASTERN TIME
STREAMED LIVE VIA GOOGLE MEET
RSVP: https://forms.gle/CzSeNfBLMGqfdgdP6
As a precautionary response to the coronavirus, this will now be an online-only event.
Indigenous Peoples may be the most important—yet most overlooked—climate solution available, according to peer-reviewed science. Hear three indigenous leaders tell how protecting their human and land rights is the best way to protect the world’s forests and thus our climate. Sponsored by Covering Climate Now. Ahead of Earth Day, a global alliance of Indigenous Peoples representing communities from Brazil, Indonesia and Mesoamerica will present local case studies illustrating what independent scientists have confirmed: saving the world’s forests requires protecting the rights of Indigenous Peoples, who are the best guardians of those forests.
This press briefing is sponsored by Covering Climate Now, a global partnership of more than 400 news outlets, which is coordinating a week of climate solutions coverage from April 19 to 26.
Peer-reviewed science has concluded that where indigenous and community land rights are secure, deforestation rates are lower and carbon storage and biodiversity are higher. Nearly 20%—or 300,000 million metric tons—of the carbon stored above and below ground in the world’s tropical forests is found in the collectively managed territories of Indigenous Peoples and local communities. Although these communities comprise only 5% of the world’s population, their territories hold 85% of the world’s biodiversity. This makes indigenous rights and forest management essential to meeting the Paris Agreement’s goal of limiting global warming to “well below” 2 degrees Celsius. And in managing and fighting for their ancestral lands, Indigenous Peoples are also protecting some of the world’s most pristine and biodiverse places.
Yet 2019 has brought unprecedented attacks on Indigenous Peoples. Physical, psychological and symbolic violence has grown to alarming levels as governments and business interests continue to infringe upon Indigenous Peoples’ rights and territories.
WHAT:
A press briefing where the global Indigenous Peoples’ movement—with leaders elected by communities in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Guayana, French Guayana, Suriname, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Indonesia—will present local case studies demonstrating their outsized role in protecting at-risk forests and thereby limiting global warming.
WHEN/WHERE:
As a precautionary response to the coronavirus, this will now be an online-only event. Click here for remote access information and assets available for the media.
10 a.m. to 11:15 a.m. Eastern Time
RSVP here: https://forms.gle/CzSeNfBLMGqfdgdP6
WHO:
The event will be hosted by Kyle Pope, Editor and Publisher of the Columbia Journalism Review and co-founder of Covering Climate Now.
Indigenous leaders elected by communities from 16 nations:
- Levi Sucre Romero is a BriBri indigenous person from Costa Rica and the Coordinator of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB). The AMPB is an alliance of 10 grassroots indigenous and local community organizations managing more than 50 million hectares of forest across the region, from Mexico to Panama.
- Mina Setra is a Dayak Pompakng indigenous person from West Kalimantan, Indonesia, and the deputy secretary-general of the Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN). The social movement brings together 17 million Indigenous People from across the Indonesia archipelago with more than 2,200 communities.
- Dinamam Tuxá is a Coordinator of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) and Legal Adviser to the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Northeast, Minas Gerais and Espírito Santo (APOINME). Dinamam is a lawyer and indigenous social activist acting in various fields: youth, the environment, and in matters of indigenous land demarcations.
For more information, please contact:
Wanda Bautista: wbautista@burness.com; +1 302 233 5438, Skype: Massiell1406
Coimbra Sirica: csiricai@burness.com; +1 301 943 3287, Skype: CoimbraSirica