Defending the Forest Defenders
Indigenous leaders and rising youth representatives from communities across six countries give statements on how 2020 has impacted them; from how the pandemic has threatened their lives and wealth of traditional knowledge to the effects of forest fires exasperated by weakening legal land rights.
Their communities are on the front lines, the forest defenders, fighting against climate change and protecting against pandemics. What can be done to protect these communities so they can protect nature? Listen to their strategies on how we can defend the defenders.

Militza Flaco, Youth Leader for the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB) from Panama gives a statement on how the pandem...e.

Levi Sucre Romero, Indigenous leader and coordinator Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB), gives a statement on the risk...s.

Walela Txai, Indigenous Youth Leader of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB) and a member of the Paiter Suruí Peopl...l.

Peruvian Shipibo leader, Jhomar Wicler Maynas Inuma, gives his statement on the threats that environmental activists face and the impor...

Dinamam Tuxá, legal advisor and coordinator of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB), gives a statement on the conti...d.

"Raise your Swords - We are the guardians of the forest" - Kalfein Wuisan, Indigenous Youth Leader of Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara...n.

Rukka Sombolinggi, Secretary-General of Aliansi Masyarakat Adat Nusantara (AMAN), gives a statement on how the COVID-19 pandemic has ex...l.

Tuntiak Katan, Indigenous leader and vice coordinator for the Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), ...s.