Our Executive Director brings hope from the frontlines of climate negotiations

Halito akana (hello friend),

Season’s greetings! I hope you, your family, and communities are well and enjoying the holiday season.

For me, as we celebrate the Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere, it’s a time of deep reflection and assessment. I’ve recently arrived home from the 30th Conference of the Parties (COP 30) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and have been reflecting on that intense experience – both frustrating and inspiring – and how it will shape our future work at Cultural Survival.

Brazilian President Lula promised COP 30 in Belém, Para, Brazil would be the "Indigenous COP” and the “COP of truth,” but this was not the reality. Yes, Indigenous Peoples showed up in historic numbers to offer solutions from their territories with large delegations from the Amazon basin. However, most were denied access to the “blue zone” where official negotiations happen and decisions are made. Deeply frustrated, Indigenous Peoples were left to create other ways to demand that their voices and concerns be heard and their rights upheld, including demonstrations, marches, and protests. Even Indigenous people who were granted access to the blue zone, did not have official seats at the table and had to try to influence individual nation states who might be sympathetic enough to their concerns to carry them into the negotiations. Unfortunately, this is nothing new–the United Nations was not designed to give Indigenous Peoples decision making power, even regarding issues like climate change that disproportionately impact them.

The largest cumulative climate polluter in the world - the United States - was notably absent from the climate negotiations, having failed to send an official delegation. At the same time, one in 25 delegates at COP represented the oil and gas industry, such that they outnumbered the delegations from each nation state except Brazil and China. Unfortunately, the truth is that corporate interests centered on maximizing profit at the expense of people, communities, and Mother Earth continue to dominate global decision-making about climate change. Upsetting as it is, it is not surprising that there was no mention of phasing out fossil fuels in the final report from COP.

We are at a critical point in the history of humanity. The more we delay real climate action, the more people and all life will suffer. It would be easy to feel discouraged after witnessing the collective failure of politicians and bureaucrats to commit to real climate action at COP. However, what continues to give me hope is collective, grassroots leadership and the growing Indigenous Peoples Movement. It was extremely powerful to join grassroots communities and allied organizations in the People’s Summit March associated with COP, where an estimated 70,000 people from Indigenous communities and civil society organizations came together to demand real climate action. Witnessing the strength and solidarity of Indigenous Peoples and civil society organizations from around the world gave me real hope for the future. 

Indigenous Peoples continue to defend their territories, lands, and waters while caring for a significant portion of the most important carbon sinks and biodiversity hotspots in the world. Indigenous Peoples are leading with ancestral intelligence, traditional ecological knowledge, and the values that for thousands of years have guided sustainable and nurturing lifeways, including care for Mother Earth, each other, and our communities. This is how many Indigenous Peoples are still living, and the rest of the world needs to look to them for wisdom and leadership on climate change, safeguarding biodiversity, and sustainable lifeways.

Cultural Survival is working in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples on the front lines of climate impacts and actions. Here’s what we achieved while at the COP:

• We supported partners from several communities to attend COP and bring the stories of their Peoples’ strengths and struggles to the world, including 5 people from the Youth for Climate project representing experiences and adaptation plans from the Amazon and Cerrado biomes of Brazil.
• We elevated the voices of Indigenous leaders and youth through interviews on social media and Indigenous Rights Radio, participated in numerous panel discussions in the blue zone and other venues.
• We launched an advocacy brief on the terrible impacts of mining and tailings related to the energy transition and deforestation related to industrial scale agriculture our partners in Brazil are facing with a ceremonial artivist performance.
• We worked with partners at the SIRGE Coalition to achieve the inclusion of rights-based language under the Just Transition Work Programme, with an unprecedented reference to Indigenous Peoples in Voluntary Isolation and Initial Contact and some of the clearest affirmations of Indigenous Peoples’ rights and self-determination in any UNFCCC decision to date.

While in Brazil, we met with Indigenous leaders and youth who are working to strengthen and defend their communities, cultures, and homelands. We are grateful to our community partners who are doing this important work, and we need to be responsive to their requests for new and continued support from Cultural Survival. 

Will you join us in contributing to the resources and information they need to continue to be the best stewards of the climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity on Mother Earth? Please give generously to help make this possible. We could not do what we do in solidarity with and support of Indigenous Peoples without friends like you.

Wishing you a wonderful holiday season and climate justice for all in the new year!

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