Press Room: COP31 | Delivering Finance, Land Rights and Recognition to Forest Peoples

Pre-COP31 Media Briefing

• When:

• Zoom registration

• Media advisory

• Speakers

MEDIA STATEMENTS & ADVISORIES

Forestry, Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities

• MEDIA ADVISORIES

• Fact sheet [Link]

• Reports and studies

  • The Importance of Protected Areas in Reducing Jurisdictional Deforestation in the Legal Amazon (Environmental Defense Fund, October 2025)

  • Forest Declaration Assessment 2025 (Climate Focus, October 2025)

  • Indigenous Territories can safeguard human health depending on the landscape structure and legal status (Nature, September 2025)

• Spokespeople available for interviews

  • Kleber Karipuna (Portuguese) is an Indigenous leader of the Karipuna people from Amapá. Kleber is one of the Executive Coordinators of the Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (APIB), representing the Brazilian Amazon through the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB). Kleber is also Co-Chair to the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities. 

  • Juan Carlos Jintach (English and Spanish) is the current Executive Secretary of the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities -GATC, and belongs to the Shuar people of the Ecuadorian Amazon. He is a member of the Interprovincial Federation of Shuar Centers of Ecuador (FICSH).

Afro-descendant & Quilombola Communities

• Fact sheet [Link]

• Reports and studies

  • Afro-descendant lands in South America contribute to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation (Nature, July 2025)

• Spokespeople available for interviews

  • Martha Rosero-Peña, Ph.D. (English and Spanish), is the Social Inclusion Director at Conservation International and co-author of the study, "Afro-descendant lands in South America contribute to biodiversity conservation and climate change mitigation."

  • Jose Luis Rengifo (Spanish) is the director of Proceso de Comunidades Negras (PCN), a Colombian-based Afro-descendant organization focused on land rights and recognition of Afro-descendant Peoples.

  • Denildo “Bico” Rodrigues de Moraes (Portuguese) is an environmental manager, social activist, and executive coordinator of the National Coordination of Black Rural Quilombola Communities (CONAQ), one of Brazil's leading organizations defending the rights of quilombola communities.

Just Energy Transition

• Fact sheet [Link]

• Reports and studies

  • Metal mining is a global driver of environmental change (Nature, July 2025)

• Spokespeople available for interviews