Indigenous peoples call for a global march against climate change on the 10th of December

Servindi, 14 November 2014.- Congress members together with representatives of indigenous peoples organizations and social movements called on citizens to participate in the Global March in Defense of Mother Earth, to be held on December 10 in Lima, Peru.

The mobilization is expected to draw thousands of people from around the world to put pressure on the 20th session of the Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, to be held in Lima from 1 to 12 of December.

The press conference that launched the invitation at the Republic Congress also made harsh criticisms of Ollanta Humala´s government.

Congressperson Veronika Mendoza called the government "incoherent" for showing a discourse at the "international forums" that contradict their internal environmental and human rights policies.

Community leaders spoke and guaranteed the massive presence of their organizations in the march.

The indigenous leaders also called for the repeal of Law 30230, known as paquetazo, because it weakens the Ministry of Environment (Minam) and reduces the capacity of the Agency for Assessment and Environmental Control (OEFA).

Among the organizations present were the Unity Pact of Indigenous Organizations of Peru and the newly formed People's Movement for the Buen vivir, comprising various social organizations and indigenous peoples from different regions of the country.

Leader Lourdes Huanca, president of indigenous women organization FENMUCARINAP, called for the repeal of laws that criminalize social protest and called the attention to the impacts of climate change on women and the urgent need for governments to take binding measures.

"Climate change affects women in their health, economics, education and everyday life; we want to expose this problem at the COP 20" she explained.

For his part, parliamentary Jorge Rimarachin questioned the moral authority of Peru as an organizer of the COP20.

"You cannot promote environmental degradation with laws like 30230 and then go organize a world summit on climate change," he said.

In turn Milton Sanchez, president of the Plataforma Interinstitucional Celendina (PIC) from Cajamarca, asked the public to join the march to "expose the real face of the Peruvian government behind its environmental mask".

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Translated from Spanish by Luis Manuel Claps for SERVINDI and IWGIA.