Environment ministers meet to advance action on protecting rainforests

Elaine Shajian Shawit from the Awajun people is the first female leader of CORPI, an organisation representing 10 different indigenous groups from the Amazon rainforest in northern Peru. RFN partners with CORPI to protect Indigenous rights and rainforest lands in Peru.

"At OTFF, I want to share with the world the work that Indigenous peoples, and especially women, do in caring for the forests through our own governments and our ancestral knowledge. We are the greatest guardians of biodiversity, We are the ones who preserve and restore biodegraded forests and pass on ancestral knowledge from generation to generation. It's time for these contributions to be recognized," says Mrs. Shajian Shawit.

Photo: CORPI

Patrick Hemedi Saidi is the national coordinator of La Dynamique des Groupes des Peuples Autochtones (DGPA), an umbrella organisation representing a number of local initiatives working for the rights of indigenous peoples in DR Congo.

"Without a free and independent indigenous population, we will lose the key to preserving the Earth's natural diversity," says Mr. Saidi.

Photo: DGPA

Marcio Astrini is the Executive Secretary of the Climate Observatory, a network of 94 Brazilian civil society organisations. The Climate Observatory promotes knowledge, engagement and action on finding solutions to the climate crisis. Mr. Astrini is an environmentalist with degrees in public management, constitutional law and public policy. He has been working on the socio-environmental agenda for over 18 years.

"If you are looking for a place with the highest concentration of life on the planet, look to the forests. If you want to find effective living mechanisms to combat the climate crisis, know they are also in the forests. What we need to do is simply take better care of those who have always taken care of us," says Mr. Astrini.

Photo: Climate Observatory

Rodrigo Botero is a renowned Colombian environmentalist and head of Rainforest Foundation Norway's partner organisation, the Foundation for Conservation and Sustainable Development (FCDS).

Rainforest Foundation Norway partnered with FCDS following the peace agreement between the FARC guerrillas and the Colombian authorities in 2016. FCDS monitors deforestation in the Colombian Amazon through regular overflights and maintains a close dialogue with the Norwegian authorities on the peace process in Colombia and on stopping deforestation.

Photo: Rainforest Foundation Norway

Jorge Perez is the executive director of AIDESEP, an umbrella organisation representing nine Indigenous organisations in Peru.

He will be co-presenting the 80/25 initiative at RFNs social event at the OTFF. The 80/25 initiative aims to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025, and Indigenous peoples are crucial to reaching this goal.

Photo: AIDESEP

Carmen Josse is the executive director of the EcoCiencia Foundation (Ecuador) and a PhD in Biological Sciences with specialization in vegetation and biogeography. Dr. Josse is also involved in the Amazon
Network of Geo-referenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG)

She will be co-presenting the 80/25 initiative at RFNs social event at the OTFF on behalf of RAISG. The 80/25 initiative aims to protect 80% of the Amazon by 2025, and Indigenous peoples are crucial to reaching this goal.

Photo: EcoCiencia