Amaru Ruiz: “Indigenous territory should have all the protection to reduce the processes of invasion and deforestation”

Exiled Nicaraguan environmental defender Amaru Ruiz will be speaking on a PBI-convened webinar on Saturday November 6. To hear him speak, register here.

On October 29, EFE reported: “Nicaraguan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Denis Moncada, heads the Nicaraguan delegation that will participate in the Climate Change Summit (COP26), which will start on Sunday in Glasgow (Scotland).”

The article notes: “The observer of the event by Nicaraguan civil society, Amaru Ruiz [director of the Fundación del Río], told EFE that Nicaragua will attend COP26 with an ‘ambiguous position’, since on the one hand it will demand ‘climate justice’, but on the other it does not do the same to improve its situation.”

Ruiz says: “Nicaragua’s position has been ambiguous. At first it did not recognize the Paris Agreement and then changed its position so as not to be left out of the Green Climate Fund. It speaks of climate justice, but not he exercises it in the country.”

And Ruiz highlights: “Indigenous territory should have all the protection to reduce the processes of invasion and deforestation, but we see the opposite: mining concessions, monocultures, invasion processes, murders…”

Global Witness reports: “Nicaragua saw 12 killings, making it the most dangerous country per capita for land and environmental defenders in 2020.”

PBI webinar, November 6

Ruiz will be speaking on a Peace Brigades International convened webinar on Saturday November 6 at 1 pm ET (Ottawa/Washington).

He will be joined by Nelly Madegwa (Kenya), Sandra Calel (Guatemala), Danilo Rueda (Colombia), Juana Ramona Zuñiga (Honduras) and Valeria Villalobos (Mexico). The webinar will also include a special introduction by United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment David R. Boyd.

To register for this webinar, please click here.