 Aloha, I'm Joshua Cooper. Welcome to Cooper Union. What's happening with human rights around our world on Think Tech Live, broadcasting from our downtown studio in Honolulu, Hawaii and Moana, New York, Kaya. Today we're looking at collective duty and solidarity for community in the face of climate crisis. UDHR, Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 29, recognition and respect for all rights for all. I'm very honored to be joined by two amazing sisters of sustainability and solidarity from Latin America, Olivia and Peru, being able to share with us a bit about the importance of the work that they do. And we know the Universal Declaration of Human Rights serves as a global agreement for us all, focusing on mutual respect for everyone, everywhere on earth. And we're here at the UN General Assembly, high level opening week, and also the UN Sustainable Omegle Summit, which provides a spirit of it's possible as humanity marks the sustainability and solidarity agreements of the UDHR and the UN 2030 Agenda. And so far, 2023 is the hottest year on record ever recorded. The climate crisis is already threatening our collective existence with rising seas, melting glaciers, severe hurricanes and wildfires. And the UN Sustainable Development Goals are at half time. We have seven years to accomplish the 17 global goals and continue up that new transformative tools, including the UN Framework Commission on Climate Change, Paris Agreement, and most recently the adoption of a right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, as well as the Orhus and its class of agreement. And Article 29 really does note our collective duties and responsibilities to our community. I'm so honored to be joined by our guests. Thank you so much for participating, Aida and Carmen. Aida, could you share with me why is this issue so important in international human rights law? And can you share how this right is central court in the global arena? Thank you for the invitation, Joshua. I'm very happy to share some ideas about the situation of Peru and Latin America. My name is Aida Longua, and I'm from Dar. It's rights, environment and natural sources. It's a Peruvian organization that promotes governance as human rights in the Amazon, the Peruvian Amazon, but also we work with other organizations in Latin America in the Amazon region and also in the global level. So we work in the territories, in indigenous organizations, in the local level and national level. And these discussions, the national level. Now, well, we are participating in this climate week in different events, but principally in events about finance, climate finance, carbon markets, environmental defenders, and also the situation about the Amazon, right? We know now, now in the Amazon, we have different threats. For example, for indigenous people, many indigenous people are too, because they defend their land, their territory. Every week, on everyone, there are a lot of indigenous in the Amazon that are threatened and also killed by their rights, because they defend their rights. So, for example, as we know, we have a regional, a regional convention, a regional agreement that is discussed for women, that is about not only to protect their rights, but also promote the access, information, participation, and justice in environmental matters. So we try to connect this legal agreement in the Amazon with these discussions in the national level that the climate changed, right? Now, in this week, for example, in about carbon markets, the situation in Peru is very critical. And also in different countries in Latin America, right? For example, numerous companies and intermediaries of carbon market in the Amazon have been signed contracts with the indigenous communities, organizations, and their inequitable and unfair conditions, right? So these generate a serious place of indigenous people because they impact in their collective rights. And this is not being attended by the states, no? For example, the state in Peru and, you know, countries playing a passive role to establish a technical and legal conditions with sugar, safe waters, transportation, transparency, access to information, their respect to the rights of the indigenous people. Also, we don't have the territorial legal security for these communities. Now, we don't have a register of finance, and also a register for projects of carbon markets. We don't have a mechanism of transparency of these types of projects. And also we don't have an effective mechanism of regulations, supervision, and sanctions, right? And these projects have been causing social and environmental impacts in these territories. So this is an issue now in Latin America. And also, as I said, in the Amazon, we have an others, right? For example, we promote recommendation for the states, for companies, and also for civil society organizations. For the state, we ask that the states implement a platforms or guidelines to replicate a safe waters, and also register these projects with information for communities, and also implement mechanisms of distribution of benefits for communities. And also a one demand from indigenous organizations is to access a finance, because all these finances of climate change is going to the state or going to the private sector, but not for the companies for the communities. So the indigenous peoples demand that access to at least the way the territorial way of financing of climate. So this financing needs to be with their own mechanisms, because also communities have their own mechanisms of control, of monitoring. So these mechanisms need to be articulated with the indigenous organizations in every territory. So this is one recommendation, and also another recommendation is to implement a system of platform of all these projects of financing, and also for carbon market, and promote a capacity building to the organizations. But because it's an opportunity to improve the organizations, improve their lives, and also to improve a better management of the funds of climate change. Yeah. Excellent points. I'm so rich to hear the work that you're doing in Peru and in the Amazon, and very much links with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN 2030 agenda, but definitely the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples with free, primed informed consent. Because we know we wouldn't be in this predicament if the voice of indigenous peoples was actually listened to and most importantly respected. So I thank you so much for those opening aspects and definitely the economic, social, cultural rights, but also the civil political rights you're describing and rights information in this kind of zoo declaration is so rich. It's what we need to do to make sure that we ensure really an island earth for future generations. Carmen, can you share with us a bit about why this issue is so important to you and international human rights law, and how this rights central and core really not only to the global arena, but the powerful work that you do in Bolivia. Well, first of all, we have to acknowledge that we're facing a premature planetary crisis. One is climate change. We have seen what climate change is doing all around the world. And to understand climate change, we need to know the difference between global warming and properly what is climate change. And global warming is when fierce atmosphere gets heated up. And climate change is because the climate is the mechanism that this the atmosphere around the world has to lower the energy or the heat that's in the atmosphere. So what's happening is as our atmosphere gets more hotter, and the temperature starts rising, then we're starting to see every time more problems that for example, why are fighters? It has happened in Hawaii. It has happened in Canada. It has happened. It is happening right now in the Amazonian in South America in many places. And at the same time, we need to talk about a broken a hydropower system. Our water system is not, it has been broken because we are over using the resources and we are contaminating the oceans. And we're, because of the heat, our forests are also burning, which are for me, sources for reservoirs of water within the earth. And that's the difference between salt water and seed water. And that's linked with the loss of biodiversity, the loss of nature. And wildfires are one of the worst phenomena to get rid of huge parts of biodiversity in very short time. So the amount of species that we have lost during the decade is going to be, it's going to be huge. And many of them may be extinct like forever. So it's something to kind of take into a, what are we doing to kind of like stop or put a stop to this or try to solve this crisis? And one is collective action. We need to be aware of what's happening, what's going on, and start finding solutions which can be, we should be transformed into policies, policies that include human rights, policies that understand that not only the Western way of life is the only way of life, but also acknowledges other types of ways of life. And at the same time, we need to guarantee human rights, human rights like for everybody. And because we have to recognize that we're not, we are in a very connected planet like never before. And we have to acknowledge and people working on building global societies that are inclusive, but that recognize different ways of life. But at the same time, if we want to guarantee human rights, we cannot guarantee human rights if our rights depend on the suffering of other beings like animals, for example. So those are some of the points I would like to reflect on. And I'm happy to keep on discussing. Thank you. Thank you so much, Carmen and Ida. It's an excellent introduction to this important issue. As really climate change is an existential crisis that we're all facing. And we really thought, of course, that it always happens to someone somewhere else. But what I think it shows with Hawaii is the most isolated landmass in the world that when it's reached Hawaii shores, everyone is definitely susceptible. And we must stand in solidarity together and stick up for one another because this is the only planet that we have. Maybe you could share with us about what first inspired you, Ida, to care about this issue and some of the first campaigns you're involved with. Thank you, Josh. What I work in environmental issues and governance and indigenous peoples. Since I have like 18 years old now I'm 34. But what I think that inspires me is really the lack of right that indigenous people have in our territories. Now in Peru, and also in the other countries in the Amazon region, they facing different, different threats, right? About their lives, the land. So that inspires me to work in this, on this, and also work to support their demands, their work in their territories, supporting also the work that they do to defend the land. So that inspires me to continue working on that. Well, we have different indigenous, indigenous leaders that are killing Peru and also in the Amazon. So because their life and continue working and also the organization that the dark, not only support organizations in territories, not also we make recommendations to the state. And also to the companies, right? Because also they have important role in these environmental management, you know, in this process of climate discussion. So not only the civil society, the not the state and the private actors. All these actors have an important role if we have, if we want to have better lives, a better, a better work. And also if we want to transition, not to a work with, with the use of better energies, clean energies, for example. So we have a lot of challenges in the global discussion, but this discussion needs to attenuate or need to share with the local level. So we don't connect the local level, the national level with this global discussion. We don't have an impact in the territories. So this is one reason that I, I still working. But also the local organization has their own mechanisms and proposals. For example, they do different protocols, not in the previous consultation in Peru. Differentizations do their own protocols and say what they want to need to the this process or how this process need to be with better, better mechanism of governance, of transparency, participation. So for example, this is an important experience, you know, in the, in the previous consultation, and many organizations have in Brazil and Colombia and Peru and Ecuador. And also now in, in this discussion of the power markets of finance, climate change, they also propose not that they need to protocols or guidelines, you know, that say that these finance need to go direct to the territories, you know, and how need to move that. And what are the better a mechanism that they use is finance to improve their life. Right. And then I don't want, I want to say that what with Carmen and other organizations in Latin America, we also have what we did since, I don't know, eight years, no, campaigns about the, the signing first of the agreement, we were part of the network that is a subahora. Now we are more than 30 organizations in Latin America. I think this is one of the important campaigns that I participated in this years. So we support different countries in a regional level. Now we are a we have 15 countries that are at the site. So we are part of this network. And we are a lot of organizations that work in not only before the signing and the organization. Now we work in the implementation of this customer agreement. So we did a lot of work in communications, also talking with the governments in the negotiation. Then years ago, a, so it's a good experience we made. We can do it in another space as well. Very inspiring. And it's also one of the things that we're looking at is to create a Pacific Eskazo agreement that builds on what Orhus and Eskazo has done. So it is expired, is very inspiring, because we know if we don't really engage together and organize and ignite and unite, we could expire ourselves. So could you share with us, Carmen, what really inspired you and how you're actualizing Article 29 of solidarity and coming together of our collective duties and responsibilities to our community, but also interspecies as well? Yeah, I think it's important to take into account that we're not alone in this planet. Sometimes most of the time we forget about that. We think that only pet are with us and then start truth. There is a huge quantity of animals that aren't sharing this planet with us. And with many of them, we have, we don't have an end, because actually they can, they can transmit somatic sickness, for example. But at the same time, we depend on them basically for me. And the solution is not, well, one solution could be that will become vegan, but that's not going to happen. So what we can do is to like reduce or meet consumption. And what we need is like 25 grams of meat a day that is transformed in eight kilos a year. So eight kilos, eight kilos is something that can help us achieve sustainability. And but at the same time, like South America, the average is 40 kilos of meat. There isn't like a global data around global, but it's one of the issues that we can do something and it's in our plate. It's a right for food, our food sovereignty, but at the same time, our food has an impact. And it's a political decision, whether you choose or to have something grown organic, or whether you choose something that is coming from the big agro industry that it uses a lot of pesticides and other chemicals. So our choices matter. And I think it's important to work around that. And that is a way that everybody can bite and can work around right in a very easy way and in a very everyday way. And I think that if we have more conscious about what our food is, but like from a political point of view, we can make better choices and not just wait until the next election to okay, food, which is great, but also to know what we're putting in our bodies and into our families. I really think that's a good point. The economic social and cultural rights are every day, the right to health, the right to housing, the right to education. If we don't have those fundamental freedoms and those rights enshrined in our economic policies, then of course, none of us can really thrive. And as you pointed out, the civil and political, it's not as alluring to vote every four years, because in a way we can vote every day. And in some cases, two to three times a day with what we put on our plate. So we really appreciate that as well. And it's exciting to see other right to clean, healthy, and sustainable environment has gained global traction, how we understand that we're on one island Earth, and we need to see what's going on. Maybe we get shared together, some of the champions creating a culture of human rights around these right, but also your vision as well for the future of these important rights. Aida. Thank you, Joshua. I think that is important that civil society, you know, in the US organization, and the actors that are involved in this process, think about not only this discussion, make concrete proposals, no, in an strategy or advocacy, no, for example, as I said, we have an experience in the cost of women that we can apply to one advocacy in different levels, not first, who have a national and she's a strong national legislation that regulates monetary and sanction, every bad practices, and also regulate these projects or these finals, see, or these initiatives of climate change, and also regulate better the compromises the of the states, right? In the climate, in climate change, and second, we need to involve not only the national governments, also on the local national governments, right, because they are in the territories and also they have an role in this regulation. And also, I think it's important to articulate with the initiative of the indigenous communities or the Afro descendants communities, right, because they also have their own mechanisms, they own proposals, they have their own initiatives, so they need, we need, or the state need to articulate with this initiative and also make mechanisms include the capacity building of this organization, no, because they are the, the, the people that protect the land, the territory, the Amazon, for example, the Amazon region, so they need more capacity building, they need more funds, no, to do this work also, and also they protect their life. So governments need to, to have also a legislation and protocols to protect their life, because all leaders and women, for example, are killed in, in our territories in Latin America, because they defend their lands, no, so it's important also to make, to think about this and this situation was not only in the Latin American race in all the world, because environmental defenders are killed because they defend their, their rights on, on their territory. So I think these are some points that we need to think in the future if we want to have a better world, we want that a, have a better life, no? Very true and really environmental human rights defenders in Latin America, unfortunately, are leading in the category of being attacked and murdered by repressive regimes. In the Pacific, it's also a giant issue as well as we look at deep seabed mining and other challenges where we're trying to protect our really philosophy of a low-pot Aina. Can you share with us, Carmen, maybe your vision of the future around this right and what we can do together to ensure the Paris Agreement and the 2030 agenda is a reality? And I do think that we have to keep our work on race and awareness. In Bolivia, for example, we did a study around mercury with an indigenous community and they'll explain what mercury contamination was. And suddenly they realized what the danger was. Mercury comes from basically gold mining. So now the indigenous people are seeing the government are kicking up the companies from their territory are declaring their territory in mercury or gold free or gold mining free. And they're doing those steps because they understand that it's not about the resources, not about that they don't get the benefits around gold or around all this exploitation. But if we know of the problems, we can be contaminated by mercury, we can be contaminated by pesticides or plastics. But if we don't know what those things can can do to ourselves, then it's really hard to take action. And at the same time, it is important to understand how climate change is impacting day to day our lives. And that, as you said, it's not something that is happening to our neighbors, or to install in another part of the world. Is that's why it's important to engage with local, with local policy, with national policy, with international policy, in order to achieve what is based not only human rights. Thank you so much. And I really appreciate all the work that you do to ensure that the right to clean health environment is a reality. And really on the 75th anniversary of the UDHR in the halftime for the UN SDGs, Article 29 really just confirm our commitment to community as the greatest hope for our future. And the UDHR insists individuals strive in solidarity to serve humanity and contribute to the culture of rights and resilience. And as we're battling from the wildfires on Maui and all the experiences you've shared with me during the time that we shared beginning in Korea at the border of the DMZ and the commitment to peace all the way to the situation you're facing in the Bolivia, in the high mountains. We know we are really one and we have to in a way counter the cynicism but also organize optimism and then harness hope together so we can ensure that the world's a better place. And thank you for all that both of you do to make sure that the Excazu agreement shines brightly for the rest of the world and builds on the tradition of the UDHR. Mahalo.