Environmentalists call on government leaders to attend Rio Earth summit

Vincentian Andrew Simmons is among 105 Goldman Environmental Prize winners who are calling on world leaders to attend the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro and make real commitments to protect the environment.{{more}}

The Goldman Prize winners, representing a broad spectrum of environmental activists – indigenous leaders, attorneys, clergy, government officials, biologists, among others – from 66 countries have added their names to the statement. All have taken great personal risks to protect the environment, often facing arrest, torture, violent threats and assassination attempts along the way.

Signatories on the letter include: Alexander Nikitin (Russia, 1997), a former naval captain who was jailed on treason charges for revealing the environmental threats behind Russia’s decommissioned nuclear submarines; Medha Patkar (India, 1992) who has been repeatedly beaten and arrested during protests against environmentally destructive redevelopment projects; Marina Silva (Brazil, 1996), former Brazilian environment minister who, despite the assassination of her close colleague Chico Mendes, led demonstrations with rubber tappers to protect tropical forests in the Amazon; Andrew Simmons (St Vincent and the Grenadines, 1994), who led a grass-root movement (JEMS) involving young people and the wider community to develop sustainable practices which led to the protection of the Kings Hill Forest Reserve, (oldest forest reserve in the Western Hemisphere).

The statement recognizes that much of the progress achieved in environmental protection since the original Earth Summit in 1992 came from the grassroots level, but that there is now a pressing need for leadership at the government level to rise to the challenge of climate change and sustainable development.

The open letter, addressed to government leaders around the world, will be released on World Environment Day. It reads: “For over two decades, the Goldman Environmental Prize has honored individuals for the great risks we take to protect the environment. Now we ask you to take a risk. Attend the Earth Summit in Rio and lead us into action.”