The Future of Conservation: COP26 and Beyond brings together 5 Indigenous and local leaders from Afrika (Tanzania, Kenya) and Abya Yala (México, Brazil), with 2 academics (to be confirmed) for a moderated discussion on the future of conservation.
COP26 is deemed by Prof Tim Flannery as ‘humanity’s last chance to avoid an environmental apocalypse’. This panel is a call to action to begin building solidarity ties between Indigenous and local community leaders and academics, in order to bring a united front to COP26. The aim of this panel is not only to discuss, but to set goals and pathways to mobilize for a justice-based future of conservation.
Over the last few years there has been an increasing level of exposure around the ongoing human rights abuses and land grabs committed in the name of wildlife conservation by numerous Global North NGOs. This panel is born out of the #DecoloniseConservation campaign, a youth education, action and solidarity campaign which seeks to mobilise the Global North environmental movement against fortress and colonial conservation in solidarity with Indigenous and local communities.
#DecoloniseConservation, an engagement campaign from XR Youth Solidarity, proposes that conservation efforts responding to the climate crisis must be led by Indigenous and/or local communities, and that the role of Global North conservation organizations must be transformed to ensure a future of conservation based on justice.
Join us on Friday March 5th 2021 at 5 pm GMT for what promises to be an exciting panel to mobilize for a new paradigm of conservation.
Register via: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aOAK6mRfQdWRWboGgDQ6Ag
The confirmed Indigenous and local leaders are:
Francis Shomet Naingisa (English) is a Maasai Elder from northern Tanzania. He is a custodian of the Maasai culture through the Ilkitoip Age Group and lecturer on the Maasai cultural anthropology for international honours programme students from Boston University.
Milka Chepkorir (English) is a human rights activist and member of the Sengwer indigenous people, who live in the the Embobut and Kabolet Forest, Kenya. For the last three years, Milka has been focusing on indigenous women and their role in defending land rights. She is a United Nations Indigenous Fellow
Samwel Nangiria (English) is a local Maasai community leader from northern Tanzania and the Director of the Ngorongoro NGO Network, which works to protect the land rights of the Masai people, in order to enable their traditional livelihoods and culture.
Nansedalia Ramírez Domínguez (Spanish) Nansedalia is a 23 years old youth from Técpan de Galeana in the Guerrero State of Mexico, who started her work in the Ejido Cordón Grande, as a community forestry promoter, encouraging the participation of young people and women in issues of community forest management. She is the first female Secretary of the Ejido Commissariat (the Ejidal Commissariat is the name given to the members who represent an Ejido) of the Ejido Cordón Grande, and the Secretary of the Committee of roads of the Arroyo Frío.
Eric Marky (Portuguese) Eric is a member of the Terena tribe and one of the lead members of the Mídia Índia team, an indigenous news agency in Brazil leading journalistic processes to amplify the voices of indigenous peoples and their demands. He is a DJ recognized for mixing traditional music with electronic beats
