Commitment to Anti-Racism

Climate justice can only be achieved with racial justice.

Climate breakdown is occurring earlier and more rapidly than expected — and across the globe, Black, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, and other communities of colour are disproportionately affected by its impacts. Dismantling the underlying inequalities in our society is critical to strengthening our ability to collectively respond and adapt to the climate crisis. Justice and equality are fundamental for people to be the restorative force that the world needs.

Community Forests International is committed to centring anti-racism in our organization, mission, and actions.

We are committed to the active work of unlearning, challenging, and dismantling racism within the sectors we work in, our communities, and our approaches to solution-building. We acknowledge the systemic racism that we as an organization are entrenched within, and we strive to actively participate in dismantling systems of racial oppression.

We will continue to hold the people and communities most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change at the heart of our thinking and acting by:

• Listening to and amplifying the voices of Black, Indigenous, and other visible minority partners and organizations within the environmental, charitable/non-profit, forestry, and related sectors. We are inspired by Future Ancestors, the Intersectional Environmentalist, and Mi’kmawey Forestry – among many others.
• Unlearning and challenging the white gaze, white saviourism, and other colonial practices and narratives so often perpetuated by conservation work and international development. The work of The Yellowhead Institute, Chelsea Vowel / âpihtawikosisân, and Layla F. Saad have been invaluable assets to this process.
• Elevating the work of our colleagues in Zanzibar, channelling resources to support their expertise on the ground and to the communities we seek to support.
• Sharing educational and actionable resources to support anti-racism work with our broader audiences through social media, email, fundraising, and in-person events.
• Uplifting Indigenous knowledge and storytelling that moves our communities toward justice, Indigenous-led land protection, and reconciliation.
• Supporting trust-building and solidarity among rural settler citizens for Indigenous reclamation of rights and relationships to unceded land, including Crown forests.
• Acting in solidarity with global and localized movements for racial justice.

As an organization, we are committed to:

• Seeking out diverse and representative external partners and contractors and increasing diversity on our team and Board of Directors.
• Recognizing and leveraging our privileges to overcome and dismantle barriers faced by Black, Indigenous, and other visible minority organisations and equitable access to resources, power, and platforms.
• Diversifying our extended networks and community by actively seeking input and engagement with BIPOC communities, groups, and individuals within and outside of our existing networks.
• Continuing to prioritize a community-led and community-centred approach to our work.

Community Forests International does not tolerate nor condone racism of any kind in our work or associated activities. We hold our extended community to the same standards and do not tolerate language or actions that stereotype, oversimplify, or perpetuate colonial narratives.

If you have feedback or would like to speak more about anti-racism within our work, please reach out to info@forestsinternational.org

---

We acknowledge that racism is one of many interconnected systems of oppression, and we are committed to an intersectional understanding and approach to our work. Our anti-racism commitments are part of a larger commitment to dismantling all forms of oppression in the movement for climate justice.

Take Action:

Be Inspired By:

• Future Ancestors
• The Intersectional Environmentalist
• Mi’kmawey Forestry
• The Yellowhead Institute
• Chelsea Vowel / apihtawikosisan

Keep Learning:

Racial Justice and Climate Justice

• The Environmental Movement Needs to Reckon with Its Racist History (Vice News)
• What Indigenous Rights Have to Do With Fighting Climate Change (The New Republic)
• Climate Activist Embrace Social Justice (Inside Climate News)
• Black Lives Matter and the Climate (Podcast: How to Save the Planet)
• How Racism Derails our Efforts to Save the Planet (Washington Post)
• Wealthy nations ‘failing to help developing world tackle climate crisis’ (The Guardian)

Racial Justice and International Development

• The White-Savior Industrial Complex (The Atlantic)
• Breaking the White Gaze of Development (Bond UK)
• What Can We Do About The White Savour Complex (Tiny Spark)
• Shifting the Power: Decolonizing Aid and Development (Arbie Baguios)

Racial Justice, Land, and Forestry

• Indigenous Protected and Conserved Areas and Climate Change (The Narwhal)
• Indigenous Women’s Leadership In The Forest Sector Report (Free to Grow Forestry)
• A Guide to Green Jobs in Canada: Voices of Indigenous Professionals (PLT Canada)
• Hundreds of Years of Racism in Canadian Property Law (CanLII Connects)
• Lacking land rights, historic black communities in Canada seek change (Reuters)
• We Need More Black Women in Forestry (Women’s Forest Congress)