After the New York meeting in February, 2017, where AMAN, AMPB, APIB and COICA decided to take action together, in particular during the COP23 Climate Change Convention in Bonn, we gathered in Petén to plan an exploratory mission in Europe alongside with the AMBP, Purpose and Weaving Ties, in order to define different aspects of «The Route to Bonn». This is part of a series of connected activities that aim to establish an open and direct dialogue with government officials, press and civil society in the previous weeks of COP23.
The main objective of «The Route to Bonn» was to make visible the demands of indigenous and forest populations of tropical zones, specially denounce the criminalization and murder of environmental leaders, and present joint proposals for forests management, which contributes to the acknowledgment of the territorial rights for indigenous people and local communities. These messages are part of a campaign called «Guardians of the Forest», integrated by the aforementioned organizations.
The exploratory mission was planned based on the contacts provided by AMPB, Weaving Ties and Purpose. For this activity we rented a vehicle between June 21st and July 5th, and visited five european cities (Paris, Cologne, Bonn, Brussels and Amsterdam) with the coordination of Weaving Ties.
In these cities we organized meetings with government representatives, organizations, allies and other actors.
This tour allowed to define the general terms of the Bus Tour in Europe by employing three criteria:
- The political implications (we are aiming to maximize the impact by meeting high rank officials)
- The media impact (we are aiming to contact high profile journalists)
- Budget issues (adjusting the available funding)
This is how the first program of «The Route to Bonn» was organized, which later was known as the Guardians of the Forest Tour.