Stand.earth at the 2025 UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

Lea en español

 

New York (April 18, 2025) – Stand.earth is gearing up for the 2025 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), where the international environmental non-profit organization will collaborate on side events and support Amazonian Indigenous partners. The 24th session of the UNPFII will take place from April 21 to May 2 in the UN Headquarters in New York, at a critical moment for the Amazon rainforest, as oil and gas expansion continues to endanger Indigenous Peoples and local communities’ lives and aggravate the climate crisis. 

While world leaders reached a consensus at COP28 to transition away from fossil fuels, some countries are going the opposite way, claiming investments in the fossil fuel industry are needed for the energy transition. In Ecuador, despite the majority of the population voting to end oil exploration in the Yasuní National Park, the State failed to meet the deadline to stop oil activities. Peru is promoting 31 oil blocks overlapping with Indigenous territories disregarding Indigenous opposition to the activity. Brazil, the host of the next UN Climate Change Conference (COP30) in November, attempts to position itself as a leader in the climate agenda while showing contradictory signs of oil expansion in the mouth of the Amazon River.

“Instead of bringing social and economic development to the Amazon and its peoples, the oil and gas industry has only created dependence on a foreign economic model and impacts that are difficult to remediate. As the world looks to transition away from fossil fuels, it is crucial to prioritize areas of particular importance for biodiversity that are vital for the future of the planet, such as the Amazon, and agree on an implementation plan for that. Indigenous Peoples have historically and globally defended biodiversity, and must lead the way forward,” said Gisela Hurtado, senior Amazonia campaigner at Stand.earth. 

In addition to accompanying Indigenous partners in the UN negotiations, the Stand.earth team will co-host the following side events:

 

Roadmap to COP30: For an Amazon Free of Oil and Gas

In this session, leaders of Amazonian Indigenous organizations of Brazil, Colombia, and Ecuador will share their perspectives about the impacts of the oil and gas industry in their territories. Speakers will also share recommendations to transition away from fossil fuels and opportunities on the road to COP30, which will take place in Brazil, in November. 

Speakers: 

• José Homero, Human Rights and Peace coordinator at Opiac (Colombia) – Decades of oil exploration without development
• Elcio Manchineri, executive coordinator of Coiab (Brazil) – The case of oil block 59 and Brazil’s contradiction: between leading the climate agenda and expanding the oil frontier in the Amazon
• Jhajayra Machoa, Youth coordinator at Confeniae (Ecuador)
• Juan Bay, president of NAWE (Ecuador) – Yasuní: popular consensus to the exit fossil fuels and next steps for implementation

Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2025 – 11:30 am to 12:45 pm ET

Room: CR-F

Hosts: Coordenação das Organizações Indígenas da Amazônia Brasileira (Coiab), Nacionalidad Waorani del Ecuador (NAWE), Organización Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas de la Amazonia Colombiana (Opiac)

Co-hosts: Acción Ecológica, ClimaInfo, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Global Gas and Oil Network, Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Chapra, Movimiento Ciudadano frente al Cambio Climatico (Mocicc), Parliamentarians for a Fossil-Free Future, Stand.earth

 

Women Defenders of the Amazon: Leadership and Resistance for Territories and Life

This event seeks to make visible the transformative leadership of Amazonian Indigenous women and their proposals in the face of the climate, territorial and human rights crises. It is part of the agenda of the UNPFII as a key space to articulate demands towards COP30 and other international processes. 

Speakers:

• Olivia Bisa, president of the Nación Chapra (Peru)
• Ginny Alba, technical adviser at Opiac (Colombia)
• Maria Jose Cerda, Indigenous leader (Ecuador)
• Alana Manchineri, communications manager at Coiab (Brazil)
• Alessandra Munduruku, Indigenous leader and environmental activist (Brazil)

Date: Tuesday, April 29, 2025 – 10:00 to 11:45 am ET

Room: CR-F

Hosts: Opiac, Confederación de Nacionalidades Indígenas de la Amazonía Ecuatoriana (Confeniae), Coiab, Gobierno Territorial Autónomo de la Nación Chapra (GTANCH), Associação Indígena Pariri

Co-hosts: Conselho Indigenista Missionário, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Stand.earth

 

Media contacts

Lays Ushirobira, Stand.earth: +34 685 20 05 91 / lays.ushirobira@stand.earth
Gisela Hurtado, Stand.earth: +1 (202) 258-2674 / gisela.hurtado@stand.earth