PUBLIC STATEMENT

from the 2019 Global Change Leaders participants

We, women from 19 different countries, participants and members of the work team from the Global Change Leaders Program of the Coady International Institute, join the global call for action from the international community to declare of global interest the PROTECTION and PRESERVATION of the Amazonian Rainforest, and establish alongside the nine Amazonian countries (Brazil, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Colombia, Paraguay, Venezuela, Surinam and Guyana) concrete policies to address the issues that affect it. We call for real feasible commitments from governments to respect, guarantee and protect the individual, collective, environmental and territorial rights of the hundreds of indigenous peoples who live there, and who for thousands of years have safeguarded this place, which nowadays plays a crucial role in reducing the impacts of climate change.

#ActForTheAmazon

Antigonish, August 23rd, 2019