World Environment Day: NPWJ calls for enhanced action to prevent deforestation and human rights violations in Amazonia

 
 
Every year, on 5 June we celebratethe World Environment Day, which since 1974 has engaged governments, businesses and citizens in an effort to address pressing environmental issues.
 
This year, the World Environment Day marks the beginning of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, which is the prevention, halt and reversion of damage to the ecosystems to ensure a sustainable future for all.
 
Forests are an ecosystem that is being put under intense pressure and is experiencing considerable damage, with over 4.7 million hectares of forests lost every year.
 
The Amazon rainforest has not been immune from such threat. According to Imazon, a Brazilian monitoring organisation, deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon has been rising for eight straight months and through the end of March forest loss was 33% above last year’s level. The increasing deforestation rate in Amazonia has led to substantial environmental consequences, being the Amazon rainforest the world’s richest and most diverse biological reservoir with 30% of the world’s species, and a massive carbon sink that plays crucial role in stabilising local and global climate.
 
Deforestation has also widespread human consequences, as it threatens indigenous Amazonian inhabitants and local communities who are severely affected by the invasion, destruction and deterioration of their territories and by the political persecution of many community leaders and environmental defenders.
 
No Peace Without Justice is at the forefront in the defense of the Amazon forest with the support of the Nando and Elsa Peretti Foundation and local partners. Since 2019, NPWJ has been engaged in a campaign against deforestation in the Amazon, for the protection of the rights of indigenous peoples and against the impunity for ecocide and environmental damage.
 
On this day, we reaffirm our commitment to the importance of continuing to work towards justice and accountability for the violations of human rights that numerous indigenous communities face. We take this opportunity to remind that this goal should be a priority for all national and international stakeholders committed to the objectives of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. The Amazon rainforest and its indigenous communities play a fundamental role in the maintenance of the ecological balance of the region and the whole planet, and this should be taken in due account by any current and future effort towards ecosystem restoration.

For further information, please contact Juan José Guzmán, Amazonia Project Associate on juzman@npwj.org