Pepe Acacho, president of the Shuar Federation (FICSH) of Ecuador and Juanita Cabrera Lopez, assistant director of the Amazon Alliance, discussed how indigenous peoples must be included in international decision making processes that affect their lands and territories, in the radio program, Reserva Natural at the IUCN WCC. This edition of Reserva Natural, which is a regular program on Radio Nacional de España, featured speakers from women-led initiatives to promote sustainable conservation as well as Maria Purificació Canals Ventín, the vice-president of the IUCN.
This month, a delegation of Amazonian indigenous leaders joined the international debate on climate change mitigation at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. Please visit the following links for international media coverage featuring the Amazonian delegation:
Rainforest dwellers caught between business, green groups
Agence France Presse—English
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jVROTks9vPhAvH0N1vSdva8iPRXg
Consensus takes form on forests and climate change
Agence France Presse—English
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hHbasycCNlDD0Qr86EL09JvAB9zA
The Coordinating Body of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) recently selected a delegation of five Amazonian indigenous leaders to join the international debate on climate change mitigation, this month at the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) World Conservation Congress in Barcelona. The IUCN World Conservation Congress will bring together over 8,000 global leaders in sustainable development and conservation from October 5-14, to determine solutions to the world’s most critical environmental issues.
The Amazon Alliance Coordinating Office encourages all our members to stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Confederacion de Pueblos Indigenas de Bolivia (CIDOB) in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Last month, the CIDOB office was raided by anti-Evo Morales paramilitaries who oppose the Bolivian president’s proposed land redistribution program. The paramilitaries have targeted organizations, such as CIDOB, that protect indigenous land rights. The opposition groups entered the CIDOB office by force, destroyed all equipment and physically assaulted members of the organization.
Juan Carlos Jintiach, Executive Co-Director traveled to Accra, Ghana to participate in the UNFCCC Accra Climate Change Talks from August 17-29. This high-level international negotiation brought together leaders from governments, businesses, environmental NGOs, and conservation organizations to examine the international climate change deal under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and emission reduction rules.
During our last Steering Council meeting, the Amazon Alliance was asked to track the World Bank’s work on climate change and ensure that indigenous peoples’ rights are fully respected. Since then, the World Bank has refused to publicly recognize any shortcomings in its involvement of indigenous peoples in designing the future of their forests in the Bank’s Forest Carbon Partnership Facility.
On September 16th, 2008 the Amazon Alliance presented a public letter to the president of the World Bank. In accordance with the COICA Declaration on Climate Change, this letter demands that the World Bank properly include legitimate elected indigenous leaders in plans affecting the future of their forests. This will require a change of priorities and policies within the World Bank. A copy of this public letter is available here in English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.
Washington, DC – September 16, 2008 Indigenous leaders from the world’s tropical forests petitioned the World Bank to stop excluding them from international climate change discussions. These leaders spoke to the participants of the “Global Forest Leaders Forum on Forests and Climate Change,” hosted by the World Bank this week.
Elected Amazonian indigenous leaders met in Quito, from August 7-9 to learn and strategize about climate change mitigation and the impact of REDD policies on indigenous peoples. The Workshop on Climate Change in the Amazon River Basin: Diagnostic of the Current Situation and Development of Strategic Action, was organized by COICA with the technical support of the Amazon Alliance and IPAM.