GLF Amazonia 2021: As it happened
On 21–23 September 2021, the GLF Amazonia digital conference put forth one clear message: the protection of the Amazon is crucial for the survival of people and ecosystems globally. Titled “The Tipping Point – Solutions from the Inside Out,” the event featured the foremost scientists conducting researching the Amazon’s dieback, Indigenous leaders sharing the realities of the COVID-19 pandemic, the latest satellite technology developers monitoring the biome, young people who will continue some of the world’s most ancient cultures and traditions, political leaders shaping the region’s policy, and new partnerships aimed at achieving environmental sustainability and secure rights for Amazonian peoples. Sessions, plenaries and launches were viewed more that 15,000 times, and key messages reached 27 million on social media.
During the last 50 years, the Amazon area lost 17 percent of its forest. Last year, it was about 1.5 percent. It is too much, and we are about to collapse, very fast. We need urgent actions. We need general measures to end deforestation and control deforestation during the dry seasons and to find other ways to manage agriculture and re-establish the ecosystem.
The [Amazon] forest doesn't burn, it's burned.
Where we are in more trouble than we think we are - is that these tipping points are interrelated – they are not independent. These things are very dangerous because they can create cascading effects that will impact the whole basis of the biosphere and life’s survival systems.
We are about to collapse and burn fast. We are in the tipping point of the Amazon, but this is reversible.
The situation of Indigenous peoples not just of Rio Negro but in general is of great vulnerability. And the sustainable culture of Indigenous lands should be one of main policy instruments – allowing communities to govern based on their own models.
We Indigenous Peoples have been struggling for a long time to maintain balance [with nature] in climate change. I want people from the outside to hear us and to know that we are fighting for our lives – not only our life, but that of humankind.
Event highlights
WHITE PAPERS
#GLFAmazonia 2021 Photo Competition
Strong competition from remarkable photos illustrating the unique beauty of the Amazon Biome, and a global determination to defend it, made the jury’s final decision difficult – but the winning entries of the GLF Amazonia photo competition have been chosen! We received an overwhelming response, with photos of exceptional quality, diversity, creativity and passion that were submitted from all over the world.
Organizations that engage with GLF
