Above: Cardinal Pedro Barreto speaks at the press conference of the Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 annual meeting. Credit: Tropical Forest Alliance 2020
Bogotá, Colombia
In early May, Cardinal Pedro Barreto (Vice President of the Episcopal Conference of Peru and IRI Peru Advisory Council member) participated as a keynote speaker at the TFA Annual Meeting and associated press conference. He outlined the vision and mandate of the Interfaith Rainforest Initiative globally and in its five priority countries and suggested that his participation should mark the beginning of a powerful new collaboration between IRI and TFA 2020. Rt. Rev. Francisco Duque-Gomez (President, Inter-religious Council of Colombia, Laura Vargas (Country Facilitator, IRI Peru) and Blanca Echeverry (Country Facilitator, IRI Colombia) also participated in the meeting and made strong connections with various forest partners working in their countries and globally.