Earlier this month, Governor Wilson Lima, Governor of Amazonas, Brazil, and 2020 chair of the Governors’ Climate and Forests Task Force, sent a letter to the Secretary General of the United Nations urging the international community to mobilize resources and support for urgent COVID-19 response measures in GCF Task Force states and provinces across the tropics.
Governor Lima’s letter has received the support of Governor Luis Hidalgo Okimura of Madre de Dios, Peru, and president of Mancomunidad Regional Amazónica.
During a video conference on Tuesday, May 12th, Governor Hidalgo expressed his support for the letter to Governor Wilson Lima, GCF Task Force Project Director Colleen Scanlan Lyons, and the Secretary of the Environment of Amazonas, Eduardo Taveira. The meeting aimed to address the fight against the coronavirus and methodologies for providing support to traditional and riverside communities.
“We are very concerned with the spread of the virus to the interior of the state and, in particular, to the most vulnerable communities, indigenous and riverside. So we are working towards seeking support on the most diverse fronts, now with the reinforcement of the Governors of states of the International Amazon.” –Governor Wilson Lima
“The support of Governor Hidalgo of Peru is extremely important, because he is also the representative of a unit that is akin to a consortium of other governors connected to the GCF Task Force network. This support reinforces even more the urgency and the importance of the manifestation that Governor Wilson Lima made to the UN, and the concern with the indigenous peoples and the traditional communities of the state,” explained Eduardo Taveira during the videoconference on Tuesday.
“Within the international community, of course, several countries also suffer from the pandemic. But there is a need for a joint effort, just as there is for the work of preserving the forests. In a region as complex as ours, which faces struggles in remote areas, indigenous populations, traditional populations and rural settlements, it is necessary to act quickly,” added Governor Lima.
Read Governor Wilson Lima’s letter to the the United Nations in English.
Leia a carta do governador Wilson Lima às Nações Unidas em Portuguese.
Lea la carta del gobernador Wilson Lima a las Naciones Unidas en español.