https://www.nationalobserver.com/
With 17 per cent of its forest already lost, the Amazon is near a tipping point. If that reaches 20 to 25 per cent, scientists say there will be irreversible changes. Uyunkar Domingo Peas Nampichkai, a leader from the Achuar Nation of the Ecuadorian Amazon, put it simply at a news conference Wednesday: the Amazon is in a “deep crisis.”
As delegates from around the world gather at the United Nations’ COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal, Indigenous Peoples in the Global South are calling out Canada for letting mining companies devastate their ancestral territories in the Amazon. It’s a central issue for protecting nature because 80 per cent of biodiversity is on Indigenous lands, according to the UN.
When companies destroy ecosystems, they often destroy the ancestral cultures and knowledge systems that were connected to that land, says Francisco von Hildebrand, president of grassroots NGO Gaia Amazonas.
The organization launched a campaign for COP15 called Hands off Amazon when a delegation visited Canada in June to meet with politicians and Indigenous nations. The campaign is pressuring citizens and politicians to push for stronger regulations, particularly on Indigenous rights and environmental protections, in the mining industry.
For the rest of this article: https://www.nationalobserver.com/2022/12/15/news/indigenous-nations-amazon-urge-canada-strengthen-mining-rules