Amazon Sacred Headwaters reposted this
On Friday we were privileged to meet with some of the tribes who are part of the Amazon Sacred Headwaters alliance who are currently touring the UK. The evening before I had been listening to John Fullerton and Samantha Power talk about BioFi - bioregional financing facilities that might support the development of more regenerative work around the world. The contrasts between the 'needs' and necessary work in different landscapes around the world is stark. As John pointed out in the webinar, starting anywhere you can raise the funds is good because everywhere is degraded to some extent. And whilst that is undoubtedly true, I couldnt help but feel the headwaters of the Amazon hold more significance. Not just for the value of clean water and rich biodiversity to the tribes of the Amazon but to the role of the Amazon rainforest within the wider context of the world. All of our own places are special to us. We act for what we care for most, and often that's wherever we call home. Somehow in these stretched and challenging times, we need also to find support for those places that are not ours directly and yet have global value to us all. Especially those places that do not have access to influence, connections, billionaires, philanthropic funds or crowdfunding. Is that everywhere or somewhere? My place, your place, our place. As these funds establish in place, I find myself wondering if each bioregional financing facility in wealthier nations (even if in impoverished places) can find some way of directing funds around a global network to send something to those places who might struggle to create one. https://lnkd.in/e-sTqhgm
Joe Brewer
1mo
I resonate deeply with this... as we redirect funding from wealthier places to one of the sacred headwaters of the Amazon right now in Putumayo, Colombia. <3 https://medium.com/@joe_brewer/investing-the-first-150-000-in-the-northern-andes-regeneration-fund-ca1e178a7259
Absolutely! BFFs can provide a transparent, accountable, locally governed way for financial resources to flow from the Global North to the Global South. I dont think that's from BFFs in the Global North, necessarily, but through the highly concentrated pools of capital in the Global North. Here are some relevant excerpts from the book: "Bioregional Financing Facilities support the transition to economies that are less, rather than more dependent on financial capital overall and financial capital from outside the region, and where financial flows better align with real flows of value. However, this aim of localizing and diversifying capital flow must be navigated carefully within the global historical context in which centuries of colonialism and neocolonialism have extracted diverse forms of wealth from certain bioregions and transferred it to others.
Founder, Capital Institute and Impact Investor
1moNo argument there. The headwaters of the Mystic river (“my place”) are nearly irrelevant in relation to the headwaters of the Amazon. My point was one about pathways as much as every place matters. We need to educate and shift worldviews. The headwaters of the Mystic River could well be such an opportunity for people to ask themselves: “What are the most “impactful” headwaters? Often the fastest and only path from A to B is via C.