Earlier this month on World Environment Day (5 June), UNU-MERIT held a special UN Cinema public event in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe (UNRIC), with support from the municipality of Maastricht and Lumière Cinema.
Below follows an excerpt of a news piece on the UNRIC website about the event.
“Indigenous people have been guardians of the forest for centuries,” says Edivan Guajajara, from the Zutiwa village, located in Arariboia Indigenous Land (Maranhão, Brazil), who opened the debate at the first UN Cinema event in Maastricht. As one of the three co-directors of the film We Are Guardians, he took part in the panel discussion and Q&A following the screening of this award-winning documentary at Lumière Cinema, organised to mark World Environment Day.
Mr. Guajajara addressed the audience of this sold-out event alongside co-directors Chelsea Green and Rob Grobman, and Dr. André Nunes Chaib, Assistant Professor of Globalisation and Law at Maastricht University.
Protecting the Amazon and the planet
The documentary follows a diverse group of indigenous people striving to protect the Brazilian Amazon rainforest and fighting to preserve their environmental and human rights against large-scale environmental destruction and corruption.
The Amazon rainforest plays a crucial role in global climate stability, making this documentary especially important for the UN. Through events like these, the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC) and its partners aim to echo the Secretary-General’s call to unite and combat climate change.
Read the full piece here on the UNRIC website.
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Photos by Arsh Ajmera / UNU-MERIT
