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Escazú Ya Project Info Brief (en)

English

Essential information

The Agreement

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#EscazuYa is an ongoing campaign that kicked off on the 25th of July and will continue till the 14th of August. This campaign was started by FFF Digital to get the environmental and human rights treaty known as the Escazú Agreement ratified. The Escazú Agreement would codify landmark protections for environmental defenders in Latin America and the Caribbean, with Latam being the most dangerous region for indigenous people and other defenders, and enforce democratic participation in governmental decisions that would affect the environment by codifying that right and requiring governments to report their environmental data (see the infographic above). It’s an essential tool to making society in the Caribbean and Latam more equitable and to preserve the environment for future generations to enjoy. For a region that’s threatened by development (e.g. illegal logging devastating the Amazon rainforest) and lack of access to environmental data, the Escazú Agreement is key for dismantling systems of oppression.

11 countries out of the 22 that signed the agreement need to ratify it for it to go into effect in the countries that have ratified. There are currently 9 ratifications, so we need 2 more. However, we only have until September 26, in less than two months: if we don’t ratify it by then then it will not go into effect

We’re working with local Latin American and Caribbean groups to create an intersectional digital campaign that will help put pressure to get the countries closest to ratification to ratify. Join us and let’s help make this region more democratic, safer for defenders, and protected for future generations!

Groups involved

FFF Digital

FFF Latam groups

Environmental groups in the Caribbean

Escazú Ahora / Red Escazú

Escazú Caribbean

Escazú Champions from Access Initiative

Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (CANARI)

Re-Earth Initiative (pending)

Indigenous groups (to be reached out to)

Working groups

We’re focusing on getting countries to ratify by two regions: Latin America and the Caribbean. Latin America is in Spanish because all the countries closest to ratification there speak Spanish (with another groupchat for Brazil in English), while the Caribbean groupchat is in English.

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Escazú Latam Whatsapp Group (en Español)⁠

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Latam is focusing on 1. Argentina 2. Costa Rica 3. Perú 4. Colombia

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Escazú Caribbean Whatsapp Group (in English)⁠

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Caribbean is focusing on 1. Grenada 2. St. Lucia

Specifics

Problem

Latin America and the Caribbean are home to over 650 million people, including over 50 million indigenous people. Defenders of the environment protect the land from being exploited by groups such as deep sea mining companies in Jamaica and illegal loggers for agriculture in the Amazon. Additionally, environmental data is not readily available and citizens’ rights to participate in decisions that would affect their land are inconsistent across the region.

The Escazú Agreement would preserve human rights and would preserve the environment for future generations to enjoy and push forward progress in the Latam and Caribbean region.