As world leaders gather in Cali, Colombia for the 16th Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP16), Global Witness is championing putting people at the heart of environmental conservation.
This year’s CBD COP marks a pivotal moment to address the biodiversity crisis and highlight the urgent need to include land and environmental defenders – who are on the front lines of biodiversity protection – as key players in the fight to preserve our planet’s ecosystems.
According to our latest annual land and environmental defenders report, Colombia remains the world’s deadliest country for defenders, with 79 murders reported in 2023 – accounting for 40% of all cases worldwide. This is the highest annual toll documented by Global Witness since we began reporting on these killings in 2012.
This year, the Colombian government has a historic opportunity to tackle the crises threatening both our climate and the health of our planet. By leading transformational change, Colombia can elevate the role of environmental defenders and civil society at global platforms like COPs, as our policy positions outlines.
The time for change is now. Join us at our events during CBD COP16 as we push for a human rights-centered approach to biodiversity action.
And don’t forget to follow all our CBD COP16 coverage on social media and sign up for our mailing list to stay informed.
Global Witness led and supported events at CBD COP16
Closing the gap: Promoting an enabling environment for environmental defenders advancing biodiversity and climate justice
When: Wednesday 23rd October, 6pm
Where: Colombia Pavilion, Blue Zone
Languages: Spanish, English, and Portuguese
Capacity: 70 people
Speakers include: Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur for Environmental Human Rights Defenders under the Aarhus Convention, Fabiola Vite Torres, General Coordinator, Centro de Derechos Humanos Zefferino Ladrillero, Mexico, Alfred Brownell, President of CliDeF and Goldman Prize award winner 2019 and Laura Furones, Senior Advisor of Global Witness.
Organised / co-sponsored by: Alliance for Land, Indigenous and Environmental Defenders (Allied), Ford Foundation, EarthRights International, Global Witness, Goldman Environmental Prize, ILC, UN-ECLAC Escazu secretariat.
‘Silent March’
When: Thursday 24th October after the morning plenary (approx. 1pm)
Where: Outside of the plenary sessions and then snaking throughout the Blue
Zone (exact route TBC)
The event will include brief statements from Indigenous leaders, followed by a peaceful silent march of approximately 50 people holding photographs of an environmental defender who has been murdered or is missing.
Organised by: Global Witness and Global Justice Ecology ProjectWorkshop: LEAD Initiative co-creation workshop with land and environmental defenders
When: Friday 25th October, 9am
Where: Hotel Dann Carlton de Cali (Salón Carlton)
ALLIED and Global Witness are holding a dialogue session to discuss important issues regarding the LEAD initiative. The session will be an opportunity for Environmental Human Rights Defenders (EHRDs) to provide their insight on LEAD’s overall strategy, and how the initiative can best go forward towards COP30 and beyond, where LEAD will be officially launched. Discussions will also revolve around how the initiative can best promote the protection, recognition, and participation of defenders within multilateral environment and climate spaces.
Organised by: Global Witness
Multisectoral dialogue: Strategies to protect environmental defenders in Latin America
When: Saturday 26th October, 9am - 10:30amWhere: Former Menéndez Hotel, Avenida Colombia #9-80, Cali
This event aims to highlight the issue of threats and violations against the human rights of environmental defenders in Latin America, based on the work of Global Witness and the leadership of two defenders from Brazil and Colombia. Discussions will address the problems and look at ways to establish strategies, solutions, and commitments with policymakers and key stakeholders from the governments of Colombia and Brazil to tackle and stop this tragedy.
Register your interest here:
https://forms.gle/jvtrvcnHNgHLVja37
For more information, please contact: [email protected]
Raíces de cambio: Cultivando el acuerdo de Escazú en las nuevas generaciones
When: Saturday 26th October, 2pm – 3pm
Where: Fundación Casa del Mono, Cali
The event aims to discuss the importance of children and youth being informed about the Escazú Agreement, as well as the tools that Colombia already has to ensure effective implementation.
Organised by: Life of Pachamama, supported by Global Witness
We Are Guardians: Pre-screening panel
When: Sunday 27th October, 8pm-9.30pm
Where: Museo La Tertulia, #5-105 Carrera 1 Oeste Cali, Valle del Cauca 760045 Colombia
Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese
Speakers include: Elisângela Elisângela Mendonça, Global Witness, Puyr Tembé, first Secretary of State for Indigenous Peoples of Pará in the Brazilian Amazon and co-founder of Ancestral Indigenous Women Warriors (ANMIGA), Tye Parakana, Parakanã community leader (Brazil), Claudelice dos Santos, a human rights and environmental activist from the forests of the Brazilian Amazon, and Osprey Orielle Lake of WECAN, Women's Earth and Climate Action Network.
As part of the Ficamazonia Film Exhibition, we’re hosting a screening of We Are Guardians - an award-winning documentary that follows Indigenous leaders in the Amazon as they fend off loggers from encroaching into their lands. Watch the trailer here.
The event will be a short version of the film and panel to illustrate the linkages between large financial centers and the experiences of communities on the ground. Through first hand accounts and opportunities to discuss recent research and other investigations, the first panel would offer a platform for our partners at the same time it highlights an under-examined driver of biodiversity loss: the lack of regulations on global financial flows.
Register your interest here: We Are Guardians at COP16 Special Events Tickets, Sun, Oct 27, 2024 at 8:00 PM | Eventbrite
Organised by: We are Guardians and Global Witness. Hosted by Ficamazonia, in collaboration with Wecan.
Regulating Finance: A precondition to implementing the GBF
When: Monday 28th October, 7:30am - 8:45am
Where: Banco de Bogotá (Auditorio principal), Cali
Languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese
Speakers include: Merel van der Mark, Forests & Finance, Tarcísio Feitosa and/or Tye Parakanã, Ola Janus, BankTrack, Shona Hawkes, RAN, Jeff Conant, Friends of the Earth
In total, public and private financial flows causing biodiversity loss and associated environmental harm added up to 7 trillion USD in 2023, whereas only 200 billion USD was spent on conserving or restoring biodiversity (UNEP, 2023). It is clear that a binding commitment to eliminate these harmful financial flows is a precondition for reaching the GBF's objective of halting and reversing biodiversity loss by 2030. Target 14 of the GBF requires the alignment of financial flows with the goals of the GBF. In this panel we will discuss the key role of legislators, central banks and financial regulators in achieving this.
Register here: Webinar Registration - Zoom (event #19, on the 28th)
Organised by: RAN and the Forest and Finance coalition.
Listening session: 'Peace with Nature': Lessons from Colombia's land and environmental defenders
When: Monday 28th October, 1pm – 3:30pm
Where: Exterior Garden, Nature House, Cali
Languages: English and Spanish
Speakers include: Atrato Guardians in conversation with invited journalists
This roundtable discussion will bring together land and environmental defenders from Colombia's Atrato region, along with speakers from Global Witness, Earthrise, Más Arte Más Acción, and a curated group of journalists and storytellers, to address the urgent challenges faced by defenders.
Colombia remains one of the most dangerous countries for environmental activism, with local communities, like the Atrato Guardians, facing severe threats while defending their land and the Atrato River, which is recognized as a legal entity.
This event offers a vital opportunity for journalists to hear firsthand accounts from these defenders, highlighting their daily struggles and victories. It also allows the Atrato Guardians to share their message with a global audience, emphasizing the need for stronger protections for defenders and ecosystems under threat.
The roundtable, inspired by the Atrato River, will feature a custom-made installation by Fernando Arias and will be accompanied by a soundscape by Miguel Navas to reflect the sounds of nature and voices of defenders who cannot physically be present.
Organised by: Global Witness, Earthrise Studio, Más Arte Más Acción (MAMA), Project Everyone.
Promoting an enabling environment for environmental human rights defenders advancing biodiversity and climate justice (Blue Zone)
When: Monday 28th October, 1pm
Where: Blue Zone
Language:
Spanish, English, and Portuguese
Format: in
person with streaming, if available
Speakers include: Francia Márquez, Vicepresident of Colombia, Sonia Guajajara, Minister of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, Julio Cusurichi, President Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest, AIDESEP, Goldman Prize winner 2009, Nonhle Mbuthuma, Indigenous environmental human rights defender, South Africa. Goldman Prize winner 2023 and Jenifer Lasimbang, Indigenous Orang Asal from Malaysia and Executive Director of Indigenous Peoples of Asia Solidarity Fund.
This side event will aim to Amplify the voices of land and environmental defenders who are working to address the biodiversity and climate crisis. The event will provide a platform for them to tell their stories and offer their recommendations on how parties can advance in implementing the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, mainly target 22, through a human rights-based approach.
It will also provide a space to discuss how civil society and environmental human rights defenders can share good experiences, local solutions being developed at the national or regional levels and take concrete steps to achieve Target 22 of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.
During the event, the Colombia presidency of COP16 will launch the environmental defenders pledge, a voluntary commitment for parties to report on the environmental human rights defenders indicator of Target 22 and adopt measures to support its implementation.
Organised by: Global Witness.
We Are Guardians: Film screening (premiere)
When: October 31st, 7pm - 9pm
Where: Outdoor area of La Tertulia (garden)
FicaAmazonia Premiere, full version of We Are Guardians (Somos Guardianes). The film follows indigenous forest guardian Marçal Guajajara and activist Puyr Tembé as they fight to protect their territories from deforestation, an illegal logger who has no choice but to cut down the forest, and a large landowner at the mercy of thousands of invaders and the extractive industry.
Through an intimate, character-driven narrative, the film brings the issues to the forefront – from the science of the Amazon rainforest and its critical role in global climate stability to the economic drivers of deforestation. The film weaves together politics, history, economics, science and consciousness, providing an in-depth exploration of this incredibly complex and critical situation – whose origins and impact extend far beyond the confines of the Amazon itself. The film is directed by indigenous activist Edivan Guajajara and filmmakers Chelsea Greene and Rob Grobman; produced by Oscar winner Fisher Stevens.
No need to register - this networking / social event is open to the public.
More information: We Are Guardians at COP16 Special Events Tickets, Sun, Oct 27, 2024 at 8:00 PM | Eventbrite
Organised by: We are Guardians. Hosted by Ficamazonia and supported by Global Witness and Wecan.