The Amazon is alive and doesn’t belong to us. It’s time to stop thinking of the Amazonian territory as a “thing”; that can be possessed. The Amazon is a vital space of interaction between indigenous peoples, rural communities and Afro-descendants that coexist with an entire complex ecosystem of water, animals, plants, history, and ecosystem services. The Amazon is not empty, it keeps the history of ancestral people and many communities that, driven by violence, national policies or simply in search of opportunities, have become Amazonian communities. Its great human and biological diversity is precisely generated by the interdependence between living beings that inhabit it: human and non-human.
What the Amazon is experiencing today is a new cycle of violence that translates into new forms of exacerbated consumerism, in which monocultives, extensive livestock, hydrocarbon exploitation and mining are no longer a threat, but a reality. A reality which many Amazonian leaders have raised their voices against and which, in some cases, have given their lives for. The changes that are necessary today go from taking day-to-day measures to demanding structural changes. Solidarity with the Amazon cannot be a temporary attitude, because although it’s necessary to start rethinking our eating habits, means of transport, among other measures, it’s important that, as citizens, we demand the opening of spaces for participation in the formulation of public policies. We need to be aware of the implications of our vote, and demand that our governments reduce meat exports. The countries, concerned about climate change, need to take action in reducing its imports of crude, meat and minerals from our countries.
The caring of the Amazon cannot be a matter of marketing, is necessary to take action and take it
now. That is why we demand:
1. That governments take immediate measures to put out fires, targeting the resources of the international community destined for climate change.
2. That structural measures are taken to stop the advanced industries that pushes the change in coverage of the Amazon territory.
3. Governance and land tenure security for its ancestral inhabitants, which reduces the pressure for land competition, as expressed by the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change – IPCC on territory.
Many more reflections and demands will be socialized in a Manifestation for the Amazon scheduled for tomorrow, August 23rd, at Brazilian embassies worldwide, convened by various civil society organizations, networks and social movements. This meeting seeks to make a call not only to the government of Brazil, for the situation of the fires, but to all local, regional and world governments to take action and take it immediately.
In Bogotá, from Ambiente y Sociedad and Red de Justica Ambiental, Movimiento Ambientalista Colombiano, Clima-lab, Alianza Colombia Libre de Fracking, Movimiento Nacional Ambiental, Trebola_RetroCD, Foro Social Panamazonico, Familias x el Clima, Cumbre Popular Urbana, El Chapin-Prensa, we invite all of its citizens to participate in this peaceful day from 12.30 pm in front of the Brazilian embassy at 93 # 14-20.
More information:
Alicia Gómez- aliciagomez@ambienteysociedad.org.co Cel: +57 3204821467
