NYC Climate Week: Protecting 80% of the Amazonia by 2025

The latest science shows that the Amazon rainforest is in danger of flipping toward a drier ecosystem, like a savanna, due to extractive activities like oil and gas exploitation, development of road infrastructure, and agricultural activity. But we still have time to avert this tipping point before we witness the dieback of this mecca of biodiversity. Join us as panelists share evidence-based analysis about the lands that should become protected or sustainably managed, and the range of solutions at hand to achieve a sustainable pathway for the Amazon, meeting climate goals at the same time. RSVP today.

• Facilitator: Dr. Alicia Guzmán León, currently I am the senior advisor for the Amazon program at Stand.earth, an environmental organization dedicated to promoting transparency corporate and state and to generate solutions against destructive practices of the environment. Together with COICA, Stand.earth coordinates the Initiative “Amazonia for Life: protect 80% by 2025” that was launched at the IUCN Congress in Marseille on September 5th. 
• Panelist 1: Dr. Thomas Lovejoy is an innovative conservation biologist who coined the term “biological diversity” (1980). He is the founder and president of the non-profit Amazon Biodiversity Center and the renowned Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project. In 2010 he was elected university professor in the department of Environmental Science and Policy at George Mason University. He currently also is senior fellow at the United Nations Foundation based in Washington, DC. Spanning the political spectrum, Lovejoy has served on science and environmental councils under the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton administrations. In the 1980s, he brought international attention to the world’s tropical rainforests, and in particular, the Brazilian Amazon, where he has worked since 1965. Lovejoy has been awarded prestigious recognitions-Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, winner of BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in the Ecology and Conservation Biology Category, conservation fellow by the National Geographic, the Blue Planet Prize in 2012. Lovejoy holds BS and PhD (biology) degrees from Yale University. 
• Panelist 2: Gregorio Mirabal is the General Coordinator of the umbrella organization of Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon, he is a representative of ORPIA, the organization of the Indigenous Peoples of the Venezuelan Amazon. Tireless fighter for the promotion, protection and security of indigenous peoples and territories through the defense of their ways of life, principles and social, spiritual and cultural values. 
• Panelist 3: The Amazonian Network of Georeferenced Socio Environmental Information (RASIG) will present the initial findings of the research to define How to reach 80 by 2025 with two panelists: Marlene Quintanilla from Bolivia and Carmen Josse from Ecuador, both panelists belong to member organizations of the Network in Ecuador (Fundación EcoCiencia) and Bolivia (Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza).
• Carmen Josse is an Ecuadorian scientist with a Ph.D. in Biological Sciences with specialization in vegetation ecology. Carmen is the Scientific Director of EcoCiencia Foundation since 2016, and Executive Director since March 2020. Dr. Josse also participates in the development of products of the Amazon Network of Geo-referenced Socio-Environmental Information (RAISG).
• Panelist 4: Marlene Quintanilla is a Forest Engineer and Master in Water Resources, currently the Director of Research and Knowledge Management at Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza from Bolivia. With more than 15 years of work in the areas of planning, research and sustainable use of natural resources. Her main interest is to achieve the conservation of ecosystems through the knowledge and understanding of their true value for the planet.
• Panelist 5: David Kaimowitz is the Manager of the Forest and Farm Facility at FAO which provides direct financial support and technical assistance to strengthen forest and farm producer organizations representing small holders, women's groups, local communities, and indigenous peoples. Before this, David worked at the Regional FAO office and he served at the Forest and Farm Facility as a Senior Advisor to the Climate and Land Use Alliance (CLUA). David is the principal author of the report Forest governance by indigenous and tribal peoples. An opportunity for climate action in Latin America and the Caribbean.