An online roundtable, enriched by concrete experiences from different territories and perspectives of the many indigenous peoples and traditional communities in Brazil. Thus was the release webinar of the Indigenous peoples and traditional communities as a reference for fair climate solutions: the Brazil Human Rights Fund experience publication, that happened on Thursday, September 19th.
The publication brings concrete examples of how these peoples and communities are creating and implementing local solutions for climate justice promotion. They are initiatives for the safekeeping of territorial rights and maintenance of ways of life, that have as a result the reduction of invasions, permanence in the territory, biodiversity recuperation and community mobilization, among others.
It also reflects on the role of philanthropy in the promotion of climate justice, based on the trajectory of the Brazil Human Rights Fund. Additionally, it details the creation of the Raízes – Indigenous peoples and Local Communities Fund for Climate Justice line.
In the online debate, the Brazil Human Rights Fund brought leaderships from traditional communities and indigenous peoples whose histories are told in the publication. The material can be downloaded in Portuguese and in English.
Read now in Portuguese
Download in English
The online roundtable was a part of the programming for the Philanthropy that Transforms Month 2024. The Month is an initiative by Rede Comuá – Philanthropy that Transforms, and aims to showcase the actions of community philanthropy and socioenvironmental justice organizations in the financing, development and/or cocreation of local climate solutions produced by and for groups, movements and civil society organizations in response to the impacts of climate change that reach many communities and territories on a national level.
Watch the debate by clicking here
How the conversation went
With the presentation of Thainá Mamede, projects advisor of the Brazil Human Rights Fund, currently responsible for Raízes, and mediation by Juliane Yamakawa, lawyer and former advisor of the Brazil Human Rights Fund that participated in the creation of Raízes, the roundtable received six guest people.
Olímpio Guajajara, a leadership on the Araribóia Indigenous Land, amidst the Amazon Rainforest in Maranhão, brought forward in his speech the experience of the Forest Guardians, gathered in the Ka’aiwar Association.
According to Olímpio, throughout 13 years of work facing woodcutters, hunters and monopolists, the Forest Guardians reduced the invasion on the Araribóia Indigenous Land: they closed 72 main entrances that existed in the territory.
“Of the 72 main entrances for invaders that we had in the territory, there are no more. And we will continue fighting daily to protect the land and mitigate the effects of climate change”, he said.
In a scenario in which less than 1% of climate funding effectively reaches the hands of indigenous peoples and traditional communities, Rose Meire Apurinã, vice-director of the Podáali – Indigenous Fund of the Brazilian Amazon, recalled that indigenous peoples bring forth projects for the protection of the territories in all the Brazilian biomes.
“We struggle daily to continue mitigating so many impacts and attempts of extermination of the indigenous peoples and of all the traditional populations on Brazil. We defend all lives, of all being that inhabit Mother Earth.”
In this context, Podáali attests the capability of the indigenous movement to propose ways and innovative solutions in the search for rights and territory protections.
Projects Manager for the Casa Socio-Environmental Fund, Maira Lacerda, who is indigenous from the Krenak people, spoke about philanthropy based on trust. “The Casa Fund, as the Brazil Human Rights Fund and other funds by Rede Comuá, have the mission of supporting the communities and bringing them to the center of attention, reinforcing their protagonism, valuing traditional knowledge, trusting their capacity to create solutions. In that way, we decenter power”, she explained.
Artisanal fishing is a fundamental activity for the feeding of the Brazilian people. However, artisanal fisherwomen and fishermen suffer daily attacks. Maria Celeste de Sousa, coordinator for the Piaúí Artisanal Fishermen and Fisherwomen Movement, brought to the roundtable the experience of someone who faces daily the grabbing of land, privatization of waters, environmental damage caused by the exploration of petroleum and, more recently, the proliferation of wind power plants.
“It’s an energy that calls itself clean, but brings so much harm to the life of fishers, as well as to the sea life”, tells the fisherwoman and leadership. Maria Celeste has been traveling to many places on the Brazilian coast, invited to participate on the mobilization against the invasion of power plants for the generation of wind energy in traditional territories – and lands.
Also on the theme of megaprojects and their effects on the ways of life of traditional communities, Tania de Moraes, quilombola[1] and coordinator on the Team for Coordination and Consultancy to the Black Communities in the Ribeira Valley (EAACONE) brought forth the fighting experiences of the quilombos for the titling of their lands, a right foreseen on the Brazilian Constitution, and in the facing of racism – including environmental racism.
“The State, when titling land, imposes a series of clauses as to how we must use said land. And threatens us with expulsion if we don’t follow them. They hinder our access and even want to tell us how to live”, protests the leadership. With the acting of EAACONE, the Ribeira Valley quilombos obtained an important achievement: the construction of a Consultation Protocol, a document that predicts communities must be heard and considered on any intervention to be done on the territory. It’s a victory for the quilombos, and also for the Atlantic Forest, one of the most dilapidated biomes in the country, that has its main point of conservation exactly in the area including the Ribeira Valley.
The publication
The Indigenous peoples and traditional communities as a reference for fair climate solutions: the Brazil Human Rights Fund experience publication brings concrete experiences of improvements to the quality of life of people and the environment through the collective fight for territorial rights and maintenance of ways of life.
The examples showcased on the publication are among the more than 470 projects of indigenous peoples and traditional communities supported by the Brazil Human Rights Fund in over 17 years acting.
Ana Valéria Araújo, executive director for the Brazil Human Rights Fund, pointed out that the projects and stories related on the material and in the roundtable are examples of the promotion of climate justice, but not just that. “Under the Brazil Human Rights Fund’s intersectional gaze, support to these groups is also a way of facing racism, gender inequality, institutional violence, and discrimination based on the social markers and inequalities that structure the Brazilian society”.
It also shows how the Brazil Human Rights Fund’s experience resulted on the creation of Raízes – Indigenous peoples and Local Communities Fund for Climate Justice.
“Raízes is also an effort to sensibilize actors of national and international philanthropy. We need to broaden our capacity, as philanthropic institutions, to make the resources reach the hands of indigenous peoples and traditional communities as best we can, to strengthen their protagonism in the climate debate and local actions of combating injustices that are caused by the climate emergency”, said the executive director of the Brazil Human Rights Fund.
“This publication that we released today is an effort to show paths, to show that ideas exist and need support”, completed Ana Valéria Araújo.
To download the publication in Portuguese, click here.
You can also read the material in English, by clicking here.
[1] Traditional communities formed by descendants of escaped enslaved people.
