The Ecosystem Services Partnership stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. As a global partnership we are committed to an inclusive and diverse community and are strongly against any form of discrimination. Social equity and justice are vital for achieving a sustainable world and a healthy environment for all and we wholeheartedly support the statement of our colleagues from Forest Trends:
A Statement from the Forest Trends Team on Injustice, Violence, and Discrimination
We all deserve to live in safe, healthy communities. The past several months have glaringly highlighted the unacceptable inequities in our society and the extent to which our inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are not shared by all of us.
The murder of unarmed black men and women like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor at the hands of the police is intolerable. The outsized toll that the COVID-19 pandemic has taken on African American and indigenous communities is unconscionable.
We also recognize similar patterns among our neighbors in the global South; in Brazil, which now counts the second-highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world, we are seeing a dramatic increase in violence and discrimination against Amazonian communities. And we recognize these same patterns in the distribution of environmental harms and climate change impacts – black, Latino, Hispanic, and indigenous communities are consistently, disproportionately exposed.
We are incensed, heartbroken, and deeply troubled.
These injustices are more than current events; they are the result of the systematic, institutionalized dehumanization of people of non-white/non-European descent over hundreds of years. A just, climate-secure future therefore depends on recognizing and addressing systemic racism.
At Forest Trends, we work to build nature-based solutions for a just, climate-secure future. This work is powered by the ability of unusual partnerships—across government, business, civil society, and local communities—to make forests worth more standing than destroyed.
The future we believe in, built on these partnerships, is incompatible with the egregious injustices exposed by recent events, especially here in the United States.
We are committed to working with you to confront these injustices. For those out there protesting injustice, discrimination, and violence, please know that we stand with you.
Stay safe.
