Taking action together: how we can address the growing threats of violence and criminalisation of indigenous peoples & environmental rights defenders
During this session, representatives of Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples will speak directly to the threats they face in defending their lands from encroachment. Representatives of UN agencies as well as private-sector speakers will reflect on measures proposed or already being taken to address threats against Indigenous and forest-dependent peoples and how to understand and fill remaining gaps.
Speakers will discuss root causes of these threats, including exclusionary conservation and expansion of agribusinesses. Concerns with these threats were highlighted by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Michel Forst, in 2016 when he raised the alarm in a special report concerning growing violence against environmental and human rights defenders.
The worrying trend of attacks against – and at times, criminalisation of Indigenous and environmental human rights defenders – has also been documented by the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Vicky Tauli-Corpuz.
This event is kindly hosted by the Forest Peoples Programme.
This event will tackle questions related to the integration of tenure rights into regional landscape development planning. Representatives from Indigenous Peoples and local communities (IPLCs), as well as civil society stakeholders and government delegates, will review key measures necessary for effective collaboration among various sectors of society.
The session will focus attention on the importance of reconnecting human prosperity and ecosystem resilience to secure land tenure for Indigenous Peoples and local communities. This has become particularly important, given the severe effects of climate change, habitat loss, and land degradation as well as social disruption and inequality. Although much of the land occupied by Indigenous Peoples around the world is under Indigenous customary ownership, many governments recognize only a fraction of this land as being formally or legally belonging to Indigenous Peoples. Yet, legally recognized and secure land and resource rights are fundamental to achieving peace, prosperity, and sustainability
This session will include local and Indigenous community members, including members from the Governors Climate and Forests Task Force from Indonesia (Papua) and Peru (Loreto/Madre de Dios). They will share their progress, as well as challenges, in implementing tenure agreements and dealing with deforestation driven by illegal extractive activities and agribusinesses expansion.
Co-sponsoring organisations:
Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN),
Sociedad Peruana de derecho Ambiental (SPDA)
Foundation for Community Initiatives (FCI)
Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force (GCF)
United Nations Development Programme
(UNDP)
Climate advocates are increasingly urging the adoption of “nature-based solutions” to address climate change and prevent further biodiversity loss, putting landscape restoration more fully in the spotlight. The recently announced U.N. Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021-2030 dovetails with the concept of using nature-based solution as a key element for solving socio-environmental challenges.
Using nature-based solutions to tackle landscape restoration and boost development involves restoring the land while keeping rights in focus. Gender-blind restoration efforts are likely to reinforce or even exacerbate pre-existing inequalities. Successful restoration relies on the women and men who depend on the landscapes for their livelihoods – and whose rights and wellbeing must be safeguarded and promoted for restoration to be sustainable and just.
This upcoming digital summit unites researchers, practitioners and advocates working at the nexus of gender and environment who will share experiences and strategize over how to ensure an equitable, sustainable and just implementation of the restoration agenda. It will provide a conceptual foundation for addressing gender equality and restoration. Presenters will discuss key restoration-related gender concepts, which will be illustrated through global experiences while identifying new potential.
Background
Since the launch of the Bonn Challenge in 2011, governments, companies and civil society groups have pledged to bring hundreds of millions of hectares of degraded lands into restoration by 2030. The Bonn Challenge builds on the Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) framework, aiming to “restore ecological integrity at the same time as improving human well-being.” An increasing body of evidence demonstrates that gender-blind restoration efforts are likely to reinforce or even exacerbate pre-existing gender inequalities. At the same time, numerous studies have found that addressing gender equality can enhance the effectiveness and sustainability of restoration action. Identifying needs, opportunities and good practices for addressing social inclusion and equity in restoration is particularly critical now, as the United Nations recently declared 2021-2030 the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.
April 2019 marks six years since the Rana Plaza factory collapse in Bangladesh, which killed 1138 people and injured many more. Join us during Fashion Revolution Week to ask #whomademyclothes, and learn from those working to improve transparency and rights within the fashion supply chain.
The fashion industry is the world’s second most polluting industry, and the textile industry uses more water than any other industry after agriculture. Not only is the glamorous facade of the fashion industry in many cases founded upon exploited workers in low-paid and unsafe working conditions, but it also harms the environment through intensive cotton crops, polluting dye processes and the impact of fast-fashion on landfills, to name a few of the issues at hand.
With the signing of the Fashion Industry Charter for Climate Action in December, and industry-leading fashion councils supporting sustainable initiatives, progress is being made — but is it enough? In this summit we will explore the many issues of fashion supply chains and hear about innovative ideas to improve transparency, ensure workers rights and reduce the extent of fashion’s footprint on our precious planet.
Speakers:
Christian Smith, Leader and advocate of sustainable business practices in the fashion industry
To mark International Day of Happiness (March 20) and International Day of Forests (March 21), three fascinating speakers will explore the interrelationships between nature, human health and wellbeing. Ahead of the upcoming GLF Kyoto (May 13) conference in Japan, Dr. Qing Li, a global leader on forest medicine and author of Forest Bathing: How Trees Can Help You Find Health and Happiness. will speak at a GLF digital summit. Developed in Japan during the 1980s, shinrin-yoku forest therapy, known also as “forest bathing” has become a foundation of preventive health care and healing in Japanese medicine. Li will be joined by healing specialist Julia Plevin, author of the just-released book The Healing Magic of Forest Bathing: Finding Calm, Creativity and Connection in the Natural World, and Sibylle Roth, a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Freiburg currently researching “Muße,” a German concept related to mindfulness and forests. This digital summit will be a calm and insightful reminder of why it is so important to find time to be still with nature, to attain the capacity to work toward sustainable solutions for the future of the planet.
Speakers
Dr. Qing Li is a doctor and global leader on forest medicine at Tokyo’s Nippon Medical School and has published a book on forest bathing subject here.
Julia Plevin is a design entrepreneur and healing specialist who has also written a just-released book on forest bathing here.
Sibylle Roth is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Freiburg currently researching “Muße,” a German concept related to mindfulness and forests.
Join us on International Women’s Day in conversation with three inspiring women who are flipping paradigms, breaking glass ceilings, and innovating to combat inequality and strengthen rights for local communities. Power imbalances and marginalization run rampant in our world, affecting farmers, indigenous peoples, women, local communities, and even everyday citizens. In this Digital Summit, speakers will present their experiences in using innovation and technology to bridge the gap — from implementing authentic bottom-up approaches to give farmers a leading role on an international stage or data democratizing through open source tools that empower local communities. Get inspired by these stories and learn to face global challenges with a creative and innovative spirit.
SPEAKERS:
Luisa Volpe, Head of Policy Development, World Farmers’ Organization
Hajar Benelcadi, Senior EO Data Analyst, Mundialis GmbH & Co. KG
Neha Misra, Co-Founder and Chief Collaboration Officer, Solar Sister
