At the III Latin American and Caribbean Congress on Protected Areas, indigenous peoples presented their demands regarding conservation and protected areas. The Coordinator for Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA), the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests (AMPB) and the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB) called for active participation in the management of protected areas that overlap their territories, and made their demands clear in each of their interventions during the congress (Lima, October 14 to 17).
Be the protagonists and not the spectators, since their territories have been the object of conservation by States and civil organizations. The leaders emphasize the urgent need to respect the self-determination of indigenous peoples in the management of protected areas that overlap their territories.
In this sense, Tuntiak Katan, vice coordinator of COICA and representative of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities gave a clear and applauded message during the opening ceremony of the Congress.
«I call for concrete initiatives: restitution, reparation and legal recognition of indigenous peoples’ territories for the perpetuity. These territories are not only for the benefit of indigenous peoples, but for all humankind,» said Tuntiak Katan.
Download here Joint Statement of the Indigenous Peoples of Abya Yala (PDF, 2 pages)
#CAPLAC #CongresoÁreasProtegidasLAC