Brazilian Indigenous leader Sonia Guajajara (centre) of the Guajajara tribe and head of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (Brazil’s Indigenous People Articulation), calling on EU lawmakers to exert pressure on the Brazilian government to better protect the rights of indigenous communities. Thomas Samson/AFP via Getty Images
DEFENDERS: ON THE FRONTLINE OF THE CLIMATE CRISIS “It’s for our forest and future generations. And it’s for the whole world.” Nemonte Nenquimo,
frontline of the climate crisis – and they face potentially fatal consequences for the stand they take.
Global Witness has documented violence against defenders since 2012. Despite concerted efforts from President of the Waorani Pastaza national and international organisations, the number Organisation – an indigenous of attacks continues to rise. Agribusiness and oil, gas and mining group who won a legal battle have been the biggest industrial to stop oil and gas exploration drivers of conflict – and, as they on their land in Ecuador cut down forests and pump carbon dioxide into our atmosphere, they are also the sectors pushing A wave of youth activism and climate us further into runaway climate strikes put the climate crisis at the breakdown. According to the top of the media agenda in 2019 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate – just as a series of devastating Nemonte Nemquimo (centre), President of the Change (IPCC), agriculture, forestry floods, typhoons and wildfires gave Coordinating Council of the Waorani Nationality of us a glimpse of the consequences of Ecuador-Pastaza, celebrates their legal victory to protect and other types of land use account their territory in the Amazon from oil exploration. for 23% of the world’s greenhouse ignoring their demands for change. Rodrigo Buendia/AFP via Getty Images gas emissions.10 But it is not just high-profile activists Land and environmental defenders play a vital role in we rely on to stand up to the carbon-intensive and protecting climate-critical forests and ecosystems. Recent unsustainable industries wreaking havoc on ecosystems. research shows that indigenous and local communities It’s also the local land and environmental defenders around the world are managing forests that contain who live directly in their path. These are people on the
DEFENDING TOMORROW The climate crisis and threats against land and environmental defenders
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