Dear Jack,

This week marks Uncontacted Peoples Week — a week to raise awareness of uncontacted Indigenous peoples around the world and demand respect for their rights.

Surrounded by the abundance of their forests, supported by Indigenous neighbors and the international community, and increasingly threatened by those invading their lands, uncontacted peoples are far from alone. Jack, this week we'll be telling you more about their lands and lives, and inviting you to take urgent action in support of their fight.

To begin, here’s a message from our friend, Yanomami leader Davi Kopenawa:

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There are many uncontacted Indigenous peoples. I don’t know them, but they have the same blood as us, my relatives who live in the forest and have never seen the non-Indigenous peoples’ world.

We all breathe the same air. They are suffering just like we are.

The napë – non-Indigenous people – are always wanting more and destroying nature looking for natural resources. All Indigenous peoples were born with a deep connection to the land, and they are still born with this today. We are different from the city people.

We look after nature, and nature looks after us. It is important for all Indigenous peoples, including the uncontacted peoples, to stay on the land where we were born. The place where Indigenous peoples live, fish, hunt and plant must be protected. The authorities must recognize that this is Indigenous land.

Uncontacted peoples are in their homes because they chose those places! They are not starving! When they are not under threat, they have food to eat, game to hunt and fruits like açaí and bacaba to make juice, body paint and many other things.

I want to help my uncontacted relatives. I don’t want them to be sad, to suffer. We, the peoples of the forest, have never suffered, but now we are suffering because the city people are destroying the beauty of our forest and they’re coming closer, building roads, clearing the way for outsiders to enter and occupy our lands.

The authorities must respect our right to live in our place, on our land. That will only happen if people across the world stand together and act now.

Without the Indigenous peoples and without the forest, there is no life. It is very important for uncontacted Indigenous peoples to be able to live on their land.

This is my opinion as a xapiri (shaman) and leader.

Davi Kopenawa Yanomami