Media Advisory January 29, 2009
Expert Speakers Directory Available at World Social Forum:
Worldwide media resource for climate change, Indigenous Peoples, & forest issues
Belém, Brazil-As the World Social Forum gets underway, thousands of representatives from a wide array of social groups and organizations have arrived in Belém, among them experts on forests and climate change [1]. Representatives from the Global Forest Coalition and Global Justice Ecology Project‘s New Voices on Climate Change initiative are available for interviews. Global Justice Ecology Project launched New Voices on Climate Change immediately prior to the UN climate change meeting in Poznan, Poland late last year.
Journalists are invited to contact the media liaisons noted below for interviews with any of the following World Social Forum participants listed. These participants can discuss the various work being done in different regions of the globe which is helping to demonstrate that “another world is possible.” These individuals include indigenous peoples, forest experts, scientists, experts in international environmental law, ecologists and others.
For interviews and contact information for Expert speakers, please call:
On-site in Belém
Orin Langelle, Media Coordinator, Global Forest Coalition, Global Justice Ecology Project
Brazil Mobile: + 55 91 8244 3355
Email: or***********@gl*******************.org
U.S. liaison
Colette Oesterle, Media and Campaigns, Global Justice Ecology Project
Office Ph: + 1 802 482 2689; Mobile: + 1 517 449 3978
Email: co*****@gj******.local
[1] New Voices & other Expert Speakers attending World Social Forum and available for interviews:
Hubertus Samangun
Spokesperson/Public Relation Officer of ICTI – (Ikatan Cendekiawan Tanimbar Indonesia); Regional Coordinator of the Nusantara/Bahasa Region (Indonesia-Malaysia, the Philippines) of the International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests; Indigenous Peoples Major Group’s Focal Point to the United Nations Forum on Forests (UNFF); Indigenous Peoples Focal Point to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC ) (Indonesia)
Area of Expertise/Specialties:
Indigenous rights, biodiversity and forest policy, agrofuels, REDD.
Languages:
Bahasa Indonesian and English
Camila Moreno
Lawyer; researcher at Terra de Direitos, a Brazilian NGO working on land rights; a member of the Political Ecology working group of the Latin American Council of Social Sciences; Doctoral Candidate at the Graduate Program in Social Sciences in Development, Agriculture and Society of the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (CPDA/UFRRJ) (Brazil)
Area of Expertise/Specialties:
Agrofuels, peasant movements, agribusiness expansion in Brazil, biotechnology and GMO impacts on peasant and family farm agriculture, amazon deforestation dynamics, territorial conflicts in the amazon region, political ecology/emerging environmental social movements
Affiliate Organizations:
Consejo Latinoamericano de Ciencias Sociales
Languages:
Portuguese, Spanish, English
Dr. Miguel Lovera
Chairperson and Independent Monitoring Coordinator of Global Forest Coalition; Chairperson for Iniciativa Amotocodie (Paraguay)
Area of Expertise/Specialities:
Conservation and restoration of forests, rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Languages:
Spanish, English, French, Portuguese, Dutch and Italian
Simone Lovera
Co-founder and managing coordinator of the Global Forest Coalition; forest campaigner for Sobrevivencia/Friends of the Earth-Paraguay; expert in Dutch environmental law and international environmental law (Paraguay)
Area of Expertise/Specialty:
Carbon offsets, international forest policy, biodiversity conservation, Indigenous rights, international environmental law, women and biodiversity, payments for environmental services, market-based conservation mechanisms, agrofuels.
Languages:
English, Dutch, Spanish, German and Portuguese
Dr. Andrei Laletin
Friends of the Siberian Forests (Russia)
Area of Expertise/Specialties:
Russian/boreal forests: their biodiversity and role in climate change mitigation.
Languages:
Russian and English
Wally Menne
Member of Timberwatch Coalition; African NGO Focal Point for Global Forest Coalition (South Africa)
Area of Expertise/Specialities:
Ecological impacts of monocultures, in particular of timber plantations, on forests and grasslands; socio-economic implications of land-use conversion to large-scale pulpwood/agrofuel crop production; the inherent unworkability and dishonesty of carbon and biodiversity (land exchange) offset projects; natural vegetation/landscape restoration through propagation and cultivation of native plants.
Languages:
English, Afrikaans
Anne Petermann
Global Justice Ecology Project Executive Director and North America Focal Point for Global Forest Coalition (United States)
Area of Expertise/ Specialties:
Genetically Engineered Trees, Second Generation Cellulosic Agrofuels, Impacts of Forest Destruction on Indigenous Peoples and Rural Communities
Languages:
English
Ana Filippini
International Secretariat / Coordinator World Rainforest Movement / Latin American Network Against Monoculture Tree Plantations (Uruguay)
Area of Expertise/Specialties:
Social & Environmental Impacts of Monoculture Tree Plantations, Especially Impacts on Women
Languages:
English and Spanish; understands Portuguese and speaks it less fluently
Ben Powless
Mohawk youth from the Six Nations reserve in Canada. He is currently a student of Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Studies at Carleton University in Ottawa. He was a founding member of the Canadian Youth Climate Coalition and works extensively with the Indigenous Environmental Network on climate policy. (Canada)
Area of Expertise/Specialties:
Climate impacts on Indigenous Peoples in Canada and globally, climate justice, carbon market mechanisms including REDD, youth engagement on climate change, climate activism.
Languages:
English, Spanish
Marcial Arias
A leader of the Kuna people (Panama)
Area of Expertise/Specialties:
Indigenous Peoples’ rights, UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIPS), especially as it relates to the UN Climate Convention and the UN Biodiversity Convention.
Affiliate Organizations:
International Alliance of Indigenous and Tribal Peoples of the Tropical Forests
Languages:
Kuna and Spanish
