COVID-19 in the Amazon: Stories from the Fronlines of Indigenous & Traditional Communities

COVID-19 IN THE AMAZON: STORIES FROM THE FRONT LINES

NOVEMBER 24, 2020 @ 1:00 PM PT / 4:00 PM ET

WEBINAR RSVP: https://amazonemergencyfund.org/

This event will include a 30 minute program followed by 30 minutes of Q&A. This on-the-ground reporting will highlight how our fundraising efforts have provided critical support to Indigenous peoples combating COVID-19, and how together we can (and must) continue this work.

Speakers include:
--Gregorio Mirabal, General Coordinator, COICA
--Atossa Soltani, Founder, Amazon Watch
--Leila Salazar-Lopez, Executive Director, Amazon Watch --Suzanne Pelletier, Executive Director, Rainforest Foundation US
--Tabea Casique, COICA.
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COVID-19 IN THE AMAZON

COVID-19 IS QUICKLY SPREADING ACROSS THE AMAZON BASIN, THREATENING THE LIVES AND THE FUTURE OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND TRADITIONAL FOREST COMMUNITIES, THE GUARDIANS OF THE FOREST.

Amazonian communities face multiple threats as the pandemic spreads across the forest, including increased violence, high levels of morbidity and mortality, a lack of access to healthcare and protective equipment, food scarcity, lack of income and environmental catastrophes including increased deforestation, oil spills, fires and floods.

For over 500 years, indigenous peoples of the Amazon and across the Americas have faced invasions and loss of their ancestral territories, ethnic and socioeconomic discrimination, and the constant threat of physical and cultural extermination resulting in displacement, disease and genocide.

Now, indigenous peoples – particularly the elders, wisdomkeepers and those living in voluntary isolation – are gravely at risk by the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Traditional forest communities are similarly threatened, including riverine communities, quilombolas, rubber-tappers and other populations who defend the forest with their lives.
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ABOUT: The Amazon Emergency Fund (AEF)

The Amazon Emergency Fund (AEF) is a newly-formed coalition of 30+ indigenous Amazonian federations and non-governmental organizations working in partnership to deliver humanitarian aid to communities impacted by the novel coronavirus in the Amazon basin.

We work by combining resources and collaborating to direct rapid response grants to indigenous and forest peoples and grassroots organizations in the Amazon who have called the global community to show our solidarity during this emergency.
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