Press Releases
Our Village COP15
Our Village COP15, an interactive community hub, gets to Montreal featuring key calls to action from leaders within the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB) & the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities (GATC).
If Not Us Then Who? (INUTW) and Land InSights/Terres en vues are pleased to announce their collaboration in the organization of Our Village COP15 from December 7th to 11th during the COP15 at the PHI Center in Montreal.
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Montreal – December 7th, 2022. If Not Us Then Who? (INUTW) and Land InSights/Terres en Vues are pleased to announce their collaboration in the organization of Our Village COP15, a community hub to share stories from the frontlines of climate action on communal biodiversity conservation and storytelling from indigenous peoples and their territories. The objective is to leverage the voices of indigenous communities in the frame of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Montreal.
The to-be approved Post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) cannot miss out a ‘Human Rights based approach consistent with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international human rights law’, as declared by the IIFB. Fear grows as COP15 starts with the announcement of a new European Union Regulation that aims to prevent agricultural goods tainted by deforestation from being imported into the EU market, ignoring the protection of Indigenous Peoples. As stated by the Fern, ‘while this is a historic first, the law fails to include strong provisions to protect the land rights of Indigenous Peoples and local communities, who time and time again have proven to be the best guardians of the forests‘. It would certainly be a COP15 failure if the new GBF does not take into account the rights, territories and biocultural ecosystems of indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (IPLCs).
Several indigenous leaders from around the world are expected to attend Our Village COP15, including the Mohawk Kahnawake Village, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, and the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB).
Saturday 10th Land InSights/Terres en vues will present the screening of Rigoberta Menchú Award-winning film Powerlands, by Navajo director Ivey Camille Manybeads Tso and IÑA NUNKE – Our Territory will be presented by representatives of the Wampis Autonomous Territorial Government. André Dudemaine – Innu Artistic Director of Land InSights/Terres en vues will be the moderator of a panel How does storytelling heal trauma with the participation of David Hernandez-Wayuu Indigenous Filmmaker & Ambassador, Victor Ika – Rapa Nui Indigenous Filmmaker. The panel Why are communities essential to nature-based solutions will be joined by representatives of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities, Nia Tero Wayfinders, and the Tenure Facility and moderated by Carla Fredericks.
On Sunday 11th Our Village COP15 will host the screening of The Territory’ film in partnership with the Tenure Facility, National Geographic and Documist along with short films from the Nia Tero ‘Wayfinders’ Program. Forest Peoples Program/ IIFB & Nia Tero Wayfinders will be leading the discussion in the How can we know what is happening in Indigenous Territory panel. Andrés Johnson, Program Officer for Climate and Land Use Alliance will be moderating the conversation Do we need a carbon market to support Indigenous sovereignty ? with the views of Jack Wielebinski of One Small Planet, Armando Davila of EarthShot Labs and Jing Tauli Corpuz of Nia Tero/IIFB. Also, Client Earth, Artists for Amazonia, and GATC will bring some clues and proposals in the discussion on How do we stop the destruction of the forests. Our Village COP15 is also honored to host the Amazon 80×25 Initiative video launch in the panel Ecological transition led by indigenous wisdom brought by Amazon Watch, COICA, and the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance.
The art exhibit We Are But One Thread will be in place over the weekend featuring pieces from Indigenous storytellers Eli Virkina, (Santu Urku) and Kynan Tegar, (Sungai Utik). Music by Mohawk Kahnawake DJ Poptart; Brazilian Terena DJ Erick Marky (Txané Terenoe) and DJ Dakini will follow the panels.
In partnership with the International Indigenous Forum on Biodiversity (IIFB), on Sunday 11th ‘Our Village’ will host a public live streaming of key sessions from the COP15 Conference on Biodiversity Nature & Culture Summit.
Check the full program. For updated info visit Our Village
Visit our partner’s website: www.presenceautochtone.ca
Our Village COP15 is an initiative of If Not Us Then Who?, a space in which art and activism intersect, where indigenous peoples and local communities join with NGOs and allies, strategize, discuss, and commune.
Land InSights/Terres en Vues is the project manager of the First Peoples’ Festival, a multidisciplinary cultural and artistic event that makes Montreal, for ten days in August, the center of indigenous creativity in the three Americas. Its mission is to link the artistic and cultural renaissance of the first peoples to the cultural dynamism of a large metropolis in a perspective of sustainable development based on friendship between peoples, the diversity of sources of expression as a collective wealth to be shared and the recognition of the diversity of cultures.
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