Stand.earth at UN COP 15 on biodiversity

Tiohtià:ke (MONTREAL) —  From December 7 through 16, North America-based environmental advocacy organization Stand.earth will be participating in several events at COP 15 related to its campaigns to protect forests and oceans. 

Nature degradation is one of the biggest developmental challenges of our generation. It threatens humanity, aggravates the climate crisis and accelerates the extinction of vulnerable species around the world. If we want to stop it from getting worse, we must do more and faster to pressure governments, corporations, and financial institutions to put people and the planet first. Stand.earth will participate in a number of events including press conferences, panel discussions and civil society mobilizations, featuring interview opportunities to speak with Indigenous leaders, elected officials, and issue experts on the Amazon rainforest, primary and old growth forests, forest biomass, ocean acidification and shipping pollution. 

If you are interested in a briefing note addressing our priority areas at COP15 in more depth, please contact Ziona Eyob, Canada Media Director for Stand.earth.

Press Conference: The Primary Forest Alliance: A Global Call for Moratorium on Industrial Activity in Primary Forests

• When: December 7, 11:30am ET
• Where: COP15 Venue Media Centre, 2nd floor
• Who: Cyril Kormos (Primary Forest Alliance/WCPA/Wild-Heritage), Dominick DellaSalla (Wild Heritage), Alicia Guzman (Stand.earth/Amazonia for Life: Protect 80×25), Tegan Hansen (Stand.earth)
• Description: This briefing will spotlight a call being issued at COP 15 for a global moratorium on industrial activity in primary forests as an essential priority action to resolve both the biodiversity and climate change crises. This is the website for the moratorium call with strong support from civil society organizations and Indigenous federations from around the globe. Speakers will underscore the critical need and opportunity for preserving primary forests and expanding the rights and territories of Indigenous peoples.

Side Event: Public Launch for Call For a Global Moratorium on Industrial Activity in Primary Forests

• When: December 10, 6-7:30pm ET
• Where: Intercontinental Hotel, 360 Rue Saint-Antoine O 
• Who: Cyril Kormos (Primary Forest Alliance/WCPA/Wild-Heritage), Sonia Guajajara (COICA), Alicia Guzman (Stand.earth), Tegan Hansen (Stand.earth), Tyson Miller (Earth Insight)
• Description: A new international alliance will be calling on world leaders to include explicit protection for primary forests as part of the Global Biodiversity Framework being negotiated at the U.N.’s biodiversity meetings.

Side event: Understanding the Biodiversity – Climate Change Nexus and Why Both Crises Need to be Solved Together

• When: Dec. 11, 2:30-3:30 ET
• Where: IUCN Nature Positive Pavilion
• Who: Risa Smith (WCPA/CCIUCN), Cyril Kormos (Primary Forest Alliance/WCPA/Wild-Heritage), Chief Rande Cooke (Awinakola Foundation), Lorna Harris (World Conservation Society), Jay Ritchlin, (David Suzuki Society), Speaker TBD (COICA)

Press Conference: Amazonia against the clock: How Indigenous territories save the planet

• When: Dec 14, 5 pm ET 
• Where: COP15 Venue Media Centre, 2nd floor at the Palais des Congrès
• Who: Harol Rincón Ipuchima, Coordinator of Climate Change and Biodiversity of COICA, Diego Casaes, Campaign Director at Avaaz, Cyril Kormos, Wild Heritage.org, Alicia Guzmán, co-coordinator initiative Amazonia for Life
• Description: Within the framework of the work of the UN Biodiversity COP15 talks, Amazonian Indigenous leaders, researchers and representatives of environmental organizations will present key findings about How Indigenous territories save the planet, with the support of the report “Amazonia Against the Clock: Where and How to Protect 80% by 2025.” The Amazonia has reached its tipping point and current biodiversity talks need to address this scenario. 
  
• Press advisory

Side Event: Protected Areas: Part of the solution to addressing the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change

• When: Dec 16, 5-6:30pm ET
• Where: Canada Pavilion 
• Who: Risa Smith (WCPA/CCIUCN), Healy Hamilton (NatureServe), Cyril Kormos and Zoltan Kun (Primary Forest Alliance/WCPA/Wild-Heritage), Alex Barron (CPAWS), Clarissa Samson (David Suzuki Foundation)

The following members of the Stand.earth team will be on the ground and are available for comment across our campaign issue areas. Interviews available in English and French.

• Alicia Guzman, Amazon Programs Director, Stand.earth 
  • Available to speak on: 
    • “Amazonia for Life: protect 80% by 2025” (initiative)
    • “Amazonia against the Clock: where and how to protect 80% of the Amazonia by 2025 (report)
    • The crucial role of Indigenous territories and their role in protecting primary forests 
    • oil and gas policy relating to the Amazon, including oil and gas supply chain research, oil extraction impacts in the Amazon, banks and financers behind oil expansion, and California’s oil consumption and its connection to Amazon rainforest destruction
• Tegan Hansen, Senior Forests Campaigner
  • Available to speak on: primary and old growth forest conservation in Canada

The following Stand.earth staff will also be available to speak remotely: 

• Maya Menezes,  Senior Climate Justice Campaigner, Stand.earth
  • Available to speak on: biomass as a false climate solution and climate justice
• Anna Barford, Canada Shipping Campaigner (Pacific Time)
  • Available to speak on (PT): Canada cruise and ocean shipping industry, including air pollution in port communities, ocean pollution and acidification from scrubbers, and zero-emissions vessels

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Media contacts:
Ziona Eyob, Canada Media Director, Stand.earth, +1 604 757 7279, canadamedia@stand.earth