fbpx

SOS Rainforest Live: Major Artists Unite in Support of Indigenous Guardians of the Rainforests Threatened by the COVID-19 Pandemic

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2020

Updated as of June 17, 2020

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Kim Chaix:gro.y1713601517nffr@1713601517xiahc1713601517k 1713601517 or +1.917.378.8670
Other media contacts listed below

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – On June 21st, major international artists will join in solidarity with indigenous peoples for a livestream concert to raise awareness and support for indigenous forest guardians under extreme threat from the coronavirus.

Participating artists include Sting (Rainforest Foundation Founder), Gilberto Gil, Caetano, Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Carlinhos Brown, Aurora, Jorge Drexler, Ana Vitoria, Manu Gavassi, Anitta, Sandy, Maná, Seu Jorge, Manu Chao, Gaby Amarantos, Tony Garrido and Maria Gadú (1). They will be joined by indigenous leaders, activists and celebrities including Actress Oona Chaplin, model and activist Gisele Bündchen, photographer Sebastião Salgado, Expert Climatologist Antonio Nobre, and Actor, Comedian and Writer Stephen Fry (2). For a full list, please visit SOSRainforestLive.org

All net proceeds from the event will go directly towards the COVID-19 relief effort in rainforest areas and on projects and advocacy to support indigenous and local communities in their efforts to protect their environment (3).

The livestream will be broadcast on TikTok, YouTube and other platforms in Brazil and around the world: 3:00pm New York City and Manaus, 16h00 São Paulo, 20h00 London and 21h00 Oslo.

In addition to broadcasting the livestream, TikTok, the platform for short cell phone videos, has committed to donate up to $300,000 to the SOS Rainforest LIVE event through livestream viewership and by hosting a dance challenge following an official SOS Rainforest Dance. All dance videos uploaded to the platform between 21-28 June 2020 that include the hashtag #SOSRainforestChallenge will qualify. See more dances on Rainforest Foundation’s TikTok account.

With destruction of tropical rainforests a key driver of global emissions, biodiversity loss and increasingly linked to disease outbreaks, protecting these forests is more critical than ever. Evidence is building that the best way to achieve this is to empower indigenous peoples and other forest guardians to secure, manage and protect the rainforests they call home (4).

But while the world is looking elsewhere, many areas are witnessing a surge of forest destruction and land invasions from illegal miners and loggers – further exposing local communities to COVID-19 and exacerbating the climate crisis.

Suzanne Pelletier, Executive Director of Rainforest Foundation US, said “indigenous peoples are among the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus due to their greater susceptibility to respiratory and viral diseases and poor access to adequate medical facilities. Yet they are the ones protecting the ecosystems that safeguard the world from the rise of major pandemics in the first place. We must join together to support indigenous peoples now.” 

SOS Rainforest LIVE is being organized by Rainforest Foundation Norway, UK and the US. The event is being produced by Pedro Paulo Carneiro (general director), Analuisa Anjos (executive producer), with Ivan Sawyer (production assistant), Maryus Rydal (production assistant) and Lucas Tomas Neves (transmission coordinator).

Learn more and participate at: SOSRainforestLive.org

Rainforest Foundation was founded 30 years ago to promote the rights of indigenous peoples living in the rainforest and to support them and other forest communities in their effort to protect and defend their territories. Since its founding, the Rainforest Foundations of Norway, the UK and the US have together supported indigenous peoples’ efforts to protect more than 72 million hectares across four continents.

###

Notes

(1) SOS Rainforest LIVE will include featured artists such as Sting, one of the founders of the Rainforest Foundation, Gilberto Gil, Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Carlinhos Brown, Aurora, Jorge Drexler, Ana Vitoria, Manu Gavassi, Anitta, Sandy, Maná, Seu Jorge, Mathilda Holmer, Maria Gadu, Tony Garrido, Aurora, Aterciopelados, Manu Chao, Allan Parsons, Gaby Amarantos, Tropkillas + Duda Beat + Afro B, Lyla June, Lisa Simone, Jupiter and Okwes, Sandrayati, OMI, Dj Soul Slinger and Jorge Mautner, Evandro Mesquita, George Israel, Vanessa Falabella and Zeca Baleiro.

(2) SOS Rainforest LIVE will have the distinguished presence of indigenous peoples’ and other environmental defenders from the world’s major tropical rainforests including : Sonia Guajajara from the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB) and Dario Kopenawa Yanomami from Hutukara Associação Yamomami from Brazil and Rukka Sombolinggi of the Indonesia’s Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN), among others. The event will also feature messages from experts such as renowned climatologist Antonio Nobre and high-profile figures such as photographer Sebastião Salgado and Wagner Moura. The event will be co-hosted by Oona Chaplin of Game of Thrones and Avatar, and Brazilians Letícia Sabatella, Camila Pitanga, Maria Gadu and Toni Garrido.

(3) Indigenous and NGO partners include: The Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil (APIB), the Hutukara Associação Yanomami, Instituto Socioambiental (ISA), and Conselho Indígena de Roraima (CIR) in Brazil; Indonesia’s Indigenous Peoples’ Alliance of the Archipelago (AMAN); DRC’s APEM and Cameroon’s APIFED; and Peru’s Organización Regional de los Pueblos Indígenas del Oriente (ORPIO).

(4) See for example: https://rightsandresources.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Stockholm-Prorities-and-Opportunities-Brief.pdf

Other press contacts

Rainforest Foundation Norway

Rainforest Foundation UK

Approach Comunicação

Inquiries in Other Languages

Read More

Back to Search

Support Our Work

Rainforest Foundation US is tackling the major challenges of our day: deforestation, the climate crisis, and human rights violations. Your donation moves us one step closer to creating a more sustainable and just future.

Donate

THE EARTH IS SPEAKING​

Will you listen?

Now, through Earth Day, your impact will be doubled. A generous donor has committed to matching all donations up to $15,000.

Any amount makes a difference.

Donate Today

No Thanks

Didier Devers
Chief of Party – USAID Guatemala
gro.y1713601517nffr@1713601517sreve1713601517dd1713601517

Didier has been coordinating the USAID-funded B’atz project since joining Rainforest Foundation US in April 2022. He holds a Master’s in Applied Anthropology and a Bachelor’s in Geography. Before joining the organization, Didier worked for 12 years in Central and South America on issues of transparency, legality, governance, and managing stakeholders’ processes in the environmental sector. Prior to that he worked on similar issues in Central Africa. He speaks French, Spanish, and English, and is based in Guatemala.