Welcome to this first meeting in a series of dialogue seminars initiated by Focali at GMV in collaboration with SIANI, GGBC, GAC, LUCSUS and other partners interested to join this initiative. The new political landscape in Brazil after the recent election is worrying for several reasons and we believe that many other actors and individuals working with the region share our concerns for both human rights and the biocultural diversity of the Amazon. This informal dialogue allows actors from different sectors in Sweden to exchange knowledge and discuss what the new Brazilian government means for the Amazon rainforest, its biocultural diversity and the world as a whole.
For this first meeting, we have invited experts on the Amazon and Brazil who will deepen our understanding of:
- The importance of the Amazon for people across scales, biodiversity and the climate
- Current national forest protection, its strengths and loopholes
- The situation for indigenous/local communities and their land rights
After a few short presentations and video reports from Brazil, we will engage in an open discussion and jointly explore the continuation of this dialogue initiative and how we can collaborate to contribute to make a positive change.
More information about this new initiative
The second dialogue meeting, to be held early 2019, will focus on the main drivers behind deforestation in tropical forest areas and how different initiatives such as zero deforestation pledges and transparency of value chains can mitigate the associated risks. Other possible themes to bring up in this dialogue initiative could be: the role of international conventions, COP25 to be held in Brazil in 2019 and the role of environmental and civil society movements.
Even if our first meeting focuses on Brazil it is important to remember the drivers of ongoing tropical deforestation in the wider Amazon and other regions as Indonesia and the Congo basin and its severe environmental and human consequences. This new dialogue platform will therefore enable a broad exchange on global tropical deforestation, but due to the risk of the environmental crisis that may unfold, if the threats to the Amazon will materialize, it is our responsibility to start with a focus on the development in Brazil and options ahead.
We are currently seeing a critical time where global challenges, foremost climate change and the loss of biological diversity are more acute than ever. We therefore need to find new ways to collaborate, both between sciences and sectors and get even better at communicating to a broad spectrum of stakeholders and policy-makers.
Welcome to contribute to this process together with us!