Council honors UN awardee

THE CITY Council is one in lauding environmentalist Joan Carling for winning the “2018 United Nation’s Champions of The Earth Award, Lifetime Achievement” for her work as one of the world’s most prominent defenders of environmental and indigenous rights.

Allad - iw moved to commend Carling, who is an environmentalist and Indigenous Peoples rights defender but recently tagged as terrorist by the government.

The city official

said the ‘Champions of the Earth’ award is the UN’s highest environmental recognition celebrating exceptional figures from the public and private sectors and from civil society, whose actions have had a transformative positive impact on the environment.

The champions are recognized for their achievements in the categories including policy leadership, entrepreneurial vision, science and innovation, inspiration and action, and lifetime achievement. This year’s laureates are recognized for a combination of bold, innovative and tireless efforts to tackle some of the most urgent environmental issues of our times;

Carling is a Kankana-ey from Sagada and a resident of the city who is an indigenous rights activist and environmental defender. She has been defending land rights from grassroots to international levels for more than 20 years. She devotes her life for the protection of land rights of indigenous peoples, ensuring sustainable development of natural resources and upholding human rights of marginalized people.

She has actively participated in global processes to defend these concerns, including those related to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change and REDD+ (Reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries).

Carling has twice served as the secretary general of the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) and chairperson of the Cordillera People’s Alliance. She was appointed by the UN Economic and Social Council as an indigenous expert and served as a member of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues between 2014 and 2016. She is a member and coconvenor of the Indigenous Peoples Major Group for the Sustainable Development Goals.

“As an environmental defender, she has faced threats against her life and security. In fact, she is among with the 600 individuals tagged as terrorist by the Department of Justice in relation to its application for the declaration of the Communist Party of the Philippines and the New People’s Army (CPPNPA) as terrorist organization posing threat and danger to her life and that of her family and friends,” Allad-iw said.