Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense
| Founded | 1998 |
|---|---|
| Focus | Environmentalism, Public Health, Human Rights, Climate Change, Environmental Law |
| Location | |
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Area served
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The Americas |
The Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (Spanish: Asociacion Interamericana para la Defensa del Ambiente) (AIDA) is a non-profit international environmental law organization founded in 1996 by a collaboration of five environmental organizations in the Americas including Earthjustice.
AIDA's headquarters is in San Francisco, California. The organization works internationally with partners in many different countries including Argentina, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Mexico, and Peru.
AIDA works primarily to improve and protect human health and the environment. AIDA's most notable work has been in La Oroya, Peru where they have fought the poisoning of local people by heavy metals and other contaminants emitted by a local smelter. AIDA has also has made significant impacts protecting the Leatherback turtle in Costa Rica through a partnership with Cedarena.
AIDA conducts its efforts according to four basic principles:
1. Encourage Transnational Collaboration - In many cases, environmental crises can’t be boxed into individual nations. Pesticide spraying in Colombia threatens forests in Ecuador; polluted waters from Bolivia damage fragile wetlands in Brazil; overfishing by boats registered in Panama causes global disruptions in marine ecosystems; and consumer excess in the United States strains environmental resources throughout the hemisphere. AIDA doesn’t let political boundaries dictate the scope of our efforts. We do what it takes to win, no matter how many borders we have to cross along the way.
2. Protect human rights - Environmental health and human rights are two sides of the same coin. Without the services provided by functioning ecosystems – clean water, breathable air, and productive soil – human communities cannot thrive. When human rights are violated, democracy fails. When significant disparities in economic capacity and political influence are involved, AIDA protects poor communities struggling against powerful corporate or state interests.
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