Please be invited to join the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) on Thursday, August 27 for our upcoming dialogue, "Women for Forests and Future Generations: Defending Communities from Pandemics and Climate Chaos”. This session is part of our ongoing WECAN Advocacy and Solutions Series, “A Just and Healthy World is Possible".

Global forests are on the brink of ecological catastrophe and we must continue to take an unwavering stand to protect them. Record setting fire seasons, deforestation, and industrial-scale logging, mining and extraction are destroying irreplaceable ecosystems and driving further climate chaos. In the face of violence against land defenders, the coronavirus, and forest destruction, diverse groups of women are rising to defend forests worldwide. During this dynamic discussion, women and femmes from different regions globally will unite to share stories, lessons, and calls to action from the field as they stand for global forests, their communities, and the web of life. Learn more about this vital interactive discussion and how to participate down below.

Registration is required - register at this link

From the tropical to temperate rainforests, Indigenous women in particular are organizing to restore damaged forest ecosystems, protect vital old-growth forests, share traditional knowledge and stories, and uphold Indigenous rights while exposing the intertwined root causes of forest destruction: extractive economies, corporate greed, endless over-consumption, Indigenous rights violations, colonization, and gender injustice. 

Forests are not only one of our best defenses against climate chaos, but they are also our first line of defense against zoonotic diseases like the novel coronavirus. Significant research has found that pandemics such as COVID-19 are the result of humanity’s destruction of nature, including deforestation of the world's tropical forests. Scientists are calling for the protection of forests, a critical solution for mitigating climate change and addressing pandemics. In light of this, we need to ensure the rights and sovereignty of Indigenous land defenders, who have the right to live on their traditional lands without violations, and who also protect and steward over 80% of the biodiversity left on the planet, much of which exists in forests.

Speakers include: Daiara Tukano of the Tukano Indigenous people - Yé'pá Mahsã, clan Eremiri Hãusiro Parameri of the Alto Rio Negro in the Brazilian Amazon, independent communicator and coordinator of Radio Yande; Helena Gualinga, Kichwa, youth social and climate activist, from Sarayaku, Ecuadorian Amazon; Wanda Culp, Tlingit, activist, and WECAN Tongass Coordinator, Alaska, USA, joined by the WECAN Indigenous Women Tongass Representatives; Neema Namadamu, SAFECO and WECAN Democratic Republic of Congo Coordinator, DR Congo; Dr. Juana Vera Delgado, Gender Expert and Women2030 Program Assistant, Global Forest Coalition; and facilitation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN International.

During the 'Women For Forests' education and advocacy webinar, we will explore various topics including: crucial resistance efforts by Indigenous women in Brazil and Ecuador to protect the Amazon, their communities and their cultural knowledge in the face of COVID-19 and attacks against women land defenders; inspiring examples of women protecting old-growth forests and replanting damaged lands in the Democratic Republic of Congo, after assaults by local militias; efforts to protect the Tongass rainforest in Alaska from the Trump administration's destructive environmental policies; updates on international forest policies; and other stories and lessons from women's work to stand for global forests, their communities, the climate, and the precious web of life.

As part of WECAN International's commitment to a climate justice framework, this webinar will not promote any of the false solutions often associated with climate-forest programs, including carbon offsets and other market mechanisms. Rather, speakers will focus on the grassroots, community-driven, and rights-based strategies and solutions being demonstrated by women around the world. An integral part of the fight for climate justice is rejecting false market-driven “solutions.” This includes the effort to expose and dismantle the roots of the extractivist economy that is inextricably intertwined with the patriarchal system that has been exploiting women and the environment for centuries. We must transition from an extractivist, colonial paradigm of “exploit and extract” to a sustainable, globally-conscious one of “respect and restore.” 

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED, please register here:

To ensure the security of our participants and speakers we ask that you register for the webinar via Zoom, which we encourage so that you may participate in the conversation and ask questions and make comments. If you do not want to register, you are welcome to join us on Facebook, where we will be streaming the event live.

If you need support registering or have any questions, be welcome to reach out to katherine@wecaninternational.org.

Daiara Tukano is of the Tukano Indigenous people - Yé'pá Mahsã, clan Eremiri Hãusiro Parameri of the Alto Rio Negro in the Brazilian Amazon, and was born in São Paulo. Daiara is an Indigenous activist and artist and has a Masters Degree in Human Rights at the University of Brasilia. She is also a researcher on the right to memory and truth of Indigenous peoples, and an independent communicator and coordinator of Radio Yandê, the first Indigenous web-radio in Brazil.

Wanda Culp, Tlingit, WECAN Tongass Coordinator, Alaska, USA, joined by the WECAN Indigenous Women Tongass Representatives

Wanda “Kashudoha” Loescher Culp is an Indigenous Tlingit activist, advocate, and hunter, fisher and gatherer of wild foods, born and raised in Juneau, and living in Hoonah, Alaska. She is the mother of three children, and is recognized as a storyteller, cultural interpreter, playwright, and co-producer of the film Walking in Two Worlds. As of 2016, Wanda has united with WECAN as a Regional Coordinator, revitalizing initiatives to protect the Tongass Rainforest and the traditional rights and lifeways of the regions Indigenous peoples.

Neema Namadamu is a visionary peacemaker from Bukavu, South Kivu Province in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where she advocates for peace, women’s rights, rights for persons with disabilities, rights for Indigenous pygmy peoples, and Rights of Nature. She is Founder and Director of SAFECO, the Synergy of Congolese Women’s Associations and Maman Shujaa: Hero Women of the Congo, through which she has established a media center for Congolese women to make their voices heard on the range of issues affecting their country. Neema is also the WECAN International Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of Congo. As WECAN DRC Coordinator, Neema leads workshops and trainings with local women to prevent old growth deforestation, reforest damaged lands, build women’s leadership, support Traditional Ecologic Knowledge, and protect the rich ecosystems of the Itombwe rainforest.

Juana Vera Delgado is both an agricultural engineer and a doctor in social science. She has a PhD degree in Gender and Political Ecology of Water awarded by Wageningen University, the Netherlands, in December 2011 (see thesis: http://edepot.wur.nl/188580). She also obtained an MSc Degree in Gender and Irrigation at the same university in 1999. Her degree as Agricultural Engineer was awarded by the Agricultural University ‘La Molina’, in Peru in 1988. Juana has a wide experience (over 25 years) working with international and local NGOs in issues related to gender and environmental justice, food security and sovereignty, climate change and sustainable rural development. The last 10 years, Juana has been engaged in feminist action research, policy/advocacy and training of trainers at an international level. As a result of her rich experience, she has published a number of articles in books and scientific journals, some of the publications can be found at this link. Presently, Juana is working at the Global Forest Coalition as the senior gender expert.

Osprey Orielle Lake is the Founder and Executive Director of the Women's Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN) International dedicated to accelerating a global women’s climate justice movement. She works nationally and internationally with grassroots and Indigenous leaders, policy-makers and scientists to promote climate justice, resilient communities, and a just transition to a decentralized, democratized energy future.

Osprey serves on the Executive Committee for the Global Alliance for the Rights of Nature and is the Co-Director of the Indigenous Women's Divestment Delegations. She actively leads WECAN’s advocacy, policy and campaign work in areas such as Women for Forests, Divestment and New Economy, Indigenous Rights, a Feminist Agenda for a Green New Deal, and UN Forums. Osprey is the author of the award-winning book,"Uprisings for the Earth: Reconnecting Culture with Nature."

On August 12th, the third WECAN Indigenous Women's Tongass Delegation met with congressional staff from Washington D.C. (virtually) to advocate for the Tongass National Forest, Indigenous rights, and our global climate.

The Tongass rainforest exists within the traditional territories of the Tlingit, Haida, Tsmishian Peoples and is the United States' best defense against the worsening climate crisis. Right now, the Trump administration is seeking to repeal the Roadless Rule in the Tongass, a key measure protecting over 9 million acres of old-growth forest from industrial scale logging, road making, and mining exploration.

The Indigenous Women’s Tongass Delegation included: Wanda Culp, Tlingit, WECAN Tongass Coordinator; Rebekah Sawers, Yupik, student and WECAN Tongass Representative; Mamie Williams, Tlingit, Cultural Knowledge Keeper; and Kari Ames, Tlingit, Alaska Native Voices Cultural Heritage Guide. The delegation is joined by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director of WECAN.

The repeal of the Roadless Rule would enact cultural genocide on local Indigenous communities, destroy unique forest ecosystems, further the climate crisis, and harm local economies. The Delegation met with law-makers to advocate for protections for the Tongass, and to ask legislators to endorse the new Roadless Area Conservation Act. Learn more about the delegation and our work in the Tongass during our upcoming webinar!