At Rio 92, the United Nations conference on the environment that formed the basis of the COP, some of the main goals were to save pandas, white macaws, and whales from extinction. Dr. Julema Vernec, director of Amnesty International in Brazil, was also there.
More than 30 years later, endangered animals have been protected, but “we’re the ones who are missing out,” she says.
Werneck, special envoy for the region and the environment at COP30, says the UN conference on climate change forgot that at the heart of the crisis is humanity, which may cease to exist.
“It feels like we are in a global Faria Lima conference,” the activist said, referring to Avenida São Paulo, where the Financial Markets Office is located, and criticized the amount of talk about numbers at the conference, given the lack of urgency to point to concrete solutions.
For her, it is not enough to announce resources to various funds without introducing solutions for women, black people, indigenous peoples, quilombolas, riverine peoples, etc. who are on the front lines of extreme climate change.
It is these most vulnerable people who offer different solutions to the crisis, he says. In preparation for her role as Special Envoy at COP30, Ms. Werneck, together with Special Envoy Denise Dora (Human Rights and Energy Transition) and First Lady Janja, consulted with women from traditional communities in all biomes in the country.
Despite seeing the challenges posed by the climate emergency, she says the completion of the project has yielded positive results. “Women will not end the world under any circumstances.”
The Vozes do Bioma project tracked reports on the impact of the climate crisis on black women in all biomes in Brazil. What impressed you most about this process?
I already knew that we were the ones on the front lines, that we were the ones building the structures to sustain our communities, but seeing, for example, a Black woman leading the process for Water Planters (a reforestation project to overcome drought) really struck me. Seeing these solutions had a very positive impact on me.
Of course, I also felt some negative effects. The situation is so bad for black, indigenous, fishermen and women from traditional communities that they are looking for solutions. We visited communities along the river. It’s basically made up of black women, and they’re doing everything on their own.
We also visited riverside areas that flourished with investment. Importantly, the companies we found that thrived on investment were in the minority.
But the balance is very positive because women are not going to end the world under any circumstances. The world is under threat now and they are doing what it takes to save it.
Given this experience, how do you plan to act as COP30’s special envoy on environmental racism and surrounding areas?
Please tell the negotiator (what we heard). We have already delivered this letter (setting out the demands and solutions found in each biome) to heads of state, and all other representatives must read this letter. This is a message from a woman. If you don’t read it on paper, you will read it orally. Because we’re going to talk.
That’s exactly what we’re doing. Insist, demonstrate, and teach with great patience. This is the 30th COP, so they had 29 chances to get it right.
What is it like to represent human rights at a conference focused on economic negotiations?
A conference that forgot the existence of human rights.
They have a duty to remember that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is over 70 years old. Let’s keep talking to remind them that (COP) is about people. Living in a natural and healthy environment is also a human right, so it is the rights of nature as a whole that are upheld.
I feel like I’m at a Faria Lima meeting. This is because they only talk about things they don’t know about, such as their background and money.
Is the climate crisis also a human rights crisis?
This is a human rights crisis, but it is also an existential crisis. What is at stake is the survival of humanity. Amnesty International’s Secretary-General said: “This is a serious crisis and everything is under threat.” Different species are under threat, but ultimately, when everything is destroyed, so are we.
There is a movement in civil society that says there is no Planet B, only Planet A. And we’re not going to play. Everything else works fine, we’ve seen it other times as well. The forest will be reborn. Pandas, I’m always thinking about pandas. Because in Rio 92, we wanted to save pandas, whales, and macaws. They regenerated. do you understand? they are back. We are the ones who finish it.
We need to approach this level of urgency. If you think humanity is great, it’s good to get your hands dirty.
Do you think that the slow recognition of the urgency of the climate crisis has something to do with the fact that extreme events are mainly felt in developing countries?
That’s because they were always watching us die. It comes from economic models, experiences of invasion and colonization. It is the Global South, the countries that have been invaded, colonized, and expropriated. Our death, our genocide, will always be there.
We have made changes. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights is an important consensus that we, too, exist as human beings. The declaration of the rights of indigenous peoples, the recognition of traditional communities, gender action programs, and the fight against racism were progress. But they seem to have covered it all up.
What is the victory for human rights at COP30?
Strictly speaking, there was recognition (in the letter) that human rights are a fundamental part of the decision-making process. But this is not discussed directly, as it should be obvious.
I think technological victories go beyond quotations. And how does it manifest itself? We need to move from the global language of Faria Lima to the language of human rights. Language is not just words on paper, but a way of facing problems, describing and implementing solutions.
It will be a win if we actually make a just transition and actually consider local communities and give them center stage and priority and actually put women in leadership.
Will we face environmental racism? As? Are we going to solve the sewage that was taken from here (from Parque da Cidade) and poured into the favelas (from Belém)? Are you going to leave here with this promise? I am giving the example of Belen, but it is for the whole world.
Although we will never reach this level, the victory is that our commitment is complete and more clearly expressed in our documents and policies.
X-ray | Julema Vernec, 63 years old
Doctor, activist, writer, PhD in Communication and Culture from UFRJ. She is the founder of the NGO Criola, which has been working to guarantee the rights of black women in the country since 1992. In 2017, he became Executive Director of Amnesty International Brazil.
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