New Award for GEDT research and call for crowdfunding for environmental defenders

Our collaborators, Peter Bille Larsen and Jörg Balsiger, are thrilled to announce that the collaborative paper to which they contributed on environmental human rights defenders and the need for conservation action was awarded Swiss Network for International Studies "International Geneva Award" 2021. 

The topic of this paper remains as relevant as ever not least in connection with the post-2020 Global Biodiversity framework under negotiation.

The award comes with a cash prize of 2500 Swiss francs which the co-authors have agreed to donate to support the Zé Claudio and Maria Institute and the Amazon Defenders Collective to continue their important work (funding is ending in March 2022). The Zé Claudio and Maria Institute (IZM, https://www.instagram.com/institutozeclaudioemaria/) is a collective organisation that works with women’s groups and fights to protect defenders of human rights and the environment who experience death threats and other attacks. IZM was created by the family and friends of the couple José Claudio Ribeiro da Silva and Maria do Espirito Santo da Silva, environmentalists and farmers, who were assassinated in 2011 for protecting the forests inside their agro-extractivist settlement in Nova Ipixuna, Pará. Brazil continues to be one of the deadliest places for environmental and land defenders (see more).

Since 2020, IZM, Not1More and CPT (Pastoral Land Commission) have been developing an Amazon Defenders Collective to support land and environmental defenders in Brazil. Most of the funding for the IZM team runs out in March 2022. Most of the funding for the IZM team runs out in March 2022. Help us raise £5500 to keep two team members employed for a year and ensure the collective continues. If we can make it to £8000 that would cover running costs and two staff for a year.

Help support the Zé Claudio and Maria Institute and the Amazon Defenders Collective by:

• Donating here: https://not1more.enthuse.com/cf/amazon-defenders-collective
• Following them on Twitter: @ZeClaudioEMaria / @N1MNot1More and Instagram: @institutozeclaudioemaria / @N1MNot1More

For more information on the Geneva Roadmap: https://www.unige.ch/.../public-roundtable-supporting.../, https://www.genevaenvironmentnetwork.org/.../geneva.../