Cop 16 Picture 3

January 6, 2011

Cop 16 Picture 3

Hector Rodriguez, posing defiantly in front of riot police, was among the thousands of Indigenous peoples, small farmers, women, environmental groups and other activists who took action and made their voices heard throughout the two-week COP 16 conference. "The market will not protect our rights," reads a statement by the Indigenous Environmental Network, which represents front-line Indigenous communities. "Approaches based on carbon offsetting, like Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation [REDD], will permit polluters to continue poisoning land, water, air, and our bodies [and] will only encourage the buying and selling of our human and environmental rights."