Science has spoken: there is no future without indigenous peoples and local communities. As key ecosystems reach the point of no return, and the impact of climate change becomes more visible than ever, indigenous organizations around the world have shown that implementing nature- and community-based solutions provides clear action. and sustainable to mitigate climate change, the degradation of territories, the loss of forests and the eradication of biodiversity.
Even so, governments and companies continue to make excuses to implement measures that allow their protection. Last year, a commitment was made to invest $1.7 billion to support these communities, which have protected key ecosystems around the world for millennia. However, this support continues without reaching them directly; Simultaneously, violence against indigenous leaders and communities has increased, threatening their lives, their rights and their ancestral heritage. This becomes more relevant if one takes into account that, while they only have legal rights over 10% of their territories, indigenous and local communities guard 80% of the world’s biodiversity. That is why they demand action now.
From September 19 to 25, the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB), as part of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, will participate in Climate Week in New York, a week in which people and decision makers from all the world will gather in the city on the margins of the UN General Assembly. The mission of the Global Alliance is to raise the voice and amplify the voices of indigenous and local leaders, youth, women and allies who demand climate action, direct financing, land rights, protection of the lives of community leaders and free, prior and informed consent. informed.n of biodiversity.
In alliance with Extinction Rebellion, the Alliance rallied in New York, to share the perspective of indigenous and local communities, engage with audiences and gain momentum as the world watches one of the world’s largest climate events.
“We kicked off the week on Wall Street to ask decision makers what kind of projects they are supporting. We do not want them to continue investing in the destruction of the Earth. We will all die if we continue like this,” said Gustavo Sánchez, member of the Board of Directors of AMPB and President of the Mexican Network of Forest Peasant Organizations.
The delegation of indigenous peoples and local communities from the global tropics and activists began their tour at the Museum of the American Indian and marched towards Wall Street. The slogan: The future is with indigenous peoples and local communities, we are Guardians of the Future.
