Over 40 representatives of the Regional Indigenous Peoples Organization of the East (ORPIO) and the Confederation of Amazonian Nationalities of Peru (CONAP) gathered in the city of Iquitos, Loreto region to get information and prepare local proposals to COP20.
The gathering was part of the first training workshop called “Preparatory regional workshops to COP20: Challenges and proposals of Amazonian indigenous peoples” held on 14-16 October in preparation for the upcoming COP20 Climate Change Summit to be held in Lima, Peru.
The goal of this workshop was to develop skills in the indigenous leaders on climate change and the process of COP20, as well as socializing and promoting indigenous Amazonian proposals to be submitted on the official agenda of the meeting of parties on climate change.
The meeting was also intended to facilitate the presence of the 18 regional representatives at COP20 from December 1st to the 12th, in Lima.
The event organized by the “Indigenous Pavilion “technical team, was attended by AIDESEP, CONAP, COICA and MINAM who shared ideas on the climate crisis and the united nations convention on climate change.
In addition, topics such as the implementation of the Indigenous pavilion at COP20 and the effective participation of indigenous peoples in this space were also brought to the discussion.
Attendees came from different communities in the Putumayo, Napo, Tigre and Amazon basins.
Henderson Rengifo (AIDESEP), Jorge Pérez (ORPIO), Claudia Galvez (MINAM), Juan Arikari (CONAP), Sandi Robinson (FEPIBAC) welcomed and opened the ceremony.
“We hope that this meeting will prove to have, first hand, the view of the leaders of the communities and federations, which tell us that the climate is changing and this affects the crops and also its economy,” stressed the head of the Achuar national indigenous peoples, Henderson Rengifo.
Meanwhile, Claudia Galvez of MINAM noted it is the first time in the history of the COP, that there is a real and effective presence of indigenous peoples in the negotiation process, being the conservation of forests the main theme to mitigate the effects of climate change.
In addition, Pliny Pizango and Victor Hugo Sánchez, of AIDESEP-COICA and CONAP, respectively, stated that it is very important to collect contributions from their own communities.
“We have come to learn and collect, what are the contributions of indigenous communities towards the climate change, at the same time, to share knowledge on how deep we are involved in all these international climate issues,” said the specialist of COICA.
Finally, it was proposed to collect communicational material of their organizations for use in the “Indigenous Pavilion” relating to the social, environmental, health and land problems, respecting their total authorship.
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Published: 10/18/2014