Organised by Stop Ecocide International and OPIAC
15:00 - 17:00 at Maloca OPIAC GZ
The documentary ‘In the Andean Amazonian Putumayo: Copper or Life’ (40') will be screened, followed by a talk by the speakers and a participatory open dialogue.
The Andean Amazonian Putumayo, one of South America's greatest natural treasures, is under threat if its mountains are opened up for intensive copper mining. Water from its mountains flows into the Amazonian watershed and feeds the region's great rivers across political boundaries.
The event will discuss the implications that mining activity would have on the ecosystem itself and on the entire Amazon basin, including the impact on the indigenous and non-indigenous populations that protect and care for the territory, whose livelihoods depend on this harmonious relationship with their surroundings. It will also address the issue of how sustainable management of this strategic Andes Amazon corridor in southern Colombia is possible, Finally, there will be a discussion on how an international crime of ecocide would serve to prevent serious damage to ecosystems, which could be irreparable, as is the case presented in the documentary.
Speakers:
Tania Liseth Mojomboy: Governor of the resguardo of the Inga people of Villa Catalina - Department of Putumayo.
Noemí Gualinga: Community leader, healer and activist of the Kichwa people of Sarayaku, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. She has held various leadership positions in the areas of health and education. She was President of the Sarayaku Women's Association and is a member of the Collective of Amazonian Women Defenders of the Forest.
Rodrigo Lledó: Lawyer, Director of Stop Ecocide for the Americas and vice-president of Human Rights Without Borders (DHSF). Former director of the Baltasar Garzón International Foundation and member of the Panel of Independent Experts for the Legal Definition of Ecocide.
Mario Camilo Barrera: Botanical biologist, artist and environmental leader. Director of the Kindicocha Foundation, Director of the Botanical Garden of Alto Putumayo, manager of Colibrí Amarillo essences of Andean-Amazonian orchids. and co-founder of the Dantakunapa Nature Reserve.
Short video intervention by Pau Soler, director of the documentary ‘In the Andean Amazonian Putumayo: Copper or life’.
Moderator: Patricia Suárez Torres, indigenous Murui of the Amazon, Technical Secretary of the Commission for the Protection of Peoples in Isolation, and Advisor to OPIAC. Defender of human rights and territorial rights. Professional in Social Work, Master in Sustainable Life Systems and Specialist in International Humanitarian Law.
Co-organisers: Stop Ecocide International, Kindicocha Foundation and OPIAC (National Organisation of Indigenous Peoples of the Colombian Amazon).