“We have the solution”

It’s often said that Indigenous people are “the best guardians of the forest”, a phrase popularised by a 2021 UN report. Research certainly shows that deforestation rates are lower in areas they inhabit. Many of those we interviewed spoke powerfully about how they hold important knowledge and solutions to the climate crisis.

But the “guardians” phrase angered some. Wilfredo Tsamash Cabrera, in Peru, called it an insult. “Look, I’m not anyone’s pet,” he said. “I don't agree with that term.” And Jamner Manihuari, also in Peru, said “We are not anyone’s pawns to act as ‘guardians’. We are the owners of our territory.”

Some even laughed when asked if this idea translates into meaningful support. Onel Masardule from the Guna people in Panama said treating Indigenous people as guardians is no good without giving them the necessary tools.

So what does meaningful support look like? For many, it’s formally recognising their territorial rights so that they can continue to sustain the forest through traditional knowledge, thus regulating the climate. Several raised the need for direct funding to keep protecting and preserving forests.

Some raised the need to curb polluting and destructive industries and rein in overconsumption by non-Indigenous people. Beyond this, humanity must shift its collective mindset when it comes to development, Lizardo Cauper Pezo in Peru said, rethinking it as something that doesn’t exploit natural resources.

Indigenous people alone cannot solve the climate crisis. Responsibility to act, they told us, must lie with those most responsible for causing it. Nardy Velasco Vargas, from the Chiquitano people in Bolivia, said: “It seems that we, as indigenous peoples, are being left with the entire burden of saving the planet.”

However, many saw Cop30 being held on the edge of the Amazon as an opportunity. “This time it’s in the Amazon, in this sacred territory, in the forest that has enormous importance for the world, for Brazil and for Indigenous peoples,” said Maickson Pavulagem. “I believe that if Cop30 learns from the traditional peoples of the Amazon, we will take a very important step toward a climate solution.”

Ruddy Andrés Cabello Iraipi, 25 from Bolivia
Ruddy Andrés Cabello Iraipi, 25
Guarayo, Bolivia
I believe that beyond being guardians, we are the best managers of our territories. Not only do we care for them, but we also know how to produce and under what conditions.
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Ruddy Andrés Cabello Iraipi, 25 from Bolivia
Ruddy Andrés Cabello Iraipi, 25
Guarayo, Bolivia
I believe that beyond being guardians, we are the best managers of our territories. Not only do we care for them, but we also know how to produce and under what conditions. Beyond just preserving it (the forest), they have to give us the power to decide how we are going to produce our sources of employment, economic resources and social development in our territories. But it is also a great step forward that the United Nations and international bodies can recognise us.
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Palmira Montenegro Justiniano, 35 from Bolivia
Palmira Montenegro Justiniano, 35
Guaraní, Bolivia
I think that recognition is excellent. But the role we play as indigenous peoples is enormous, because we know very well that being the conservators of natural resources will have an impact elsewhere
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Palmira Montenegro Justiniano, 35 from Bolivia
Palmira Montenegro Justiniano, 35
Guaraní, Bolivia
I think that recognition is excellent. But the role that I believe we play as indigenous peoples is enormous, because we know very well that being the conservators of natural resources and all that will have an impact elsewhere. So, I think that recognition is fine with me
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Rocío Picaneray Chiqueno, 39 from Bolivia
Rocío Picaneray Chiqueno, 39
Ayoreo, Bolivia
We are caring for the air not only for Bolivians, but for the whole world. We are caring for the water and the air that they breathe.
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Rocío Picaneray Chiqueno, 39 from Bolivia
Rocío Picaneray Chiqueno, 39
Ayoreo, Bolivia
I believe that every day, instead of us, the indigenous people, being the only protectors, other countries should also get involved in defending our territory, because we are caring for the air not only for Bolivians, but for the whole world. We are caring for the water and the air that they breathe.
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Beka Munduruku, 22 from Brazil
Beka Munduruku, 22
Munduruku, Brazil
There's no point in saying that indigenous peoples are this and that, if their territories are being threatened, if the main leaders are being killed.
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Beka Munduruku, 22 from Brazil
Beka Munduruku, 22
Munduruku, Brazil
There's no point in saying that indigenous peoples are this and that, if their territories are being threatened, if the main leaders who preserve the territory, who fight for that territory, are being killed, right? This recognition doesn't reach us. So, what we need is direct support
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Luana Kaingang, 32 from Brazil
Luana Kaingang, 32
Kaingang, Brazil
I don't think that money will reduce the climate issue today. I think it's a matter of awareness and action.
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Luana Kaingang, 32 from Brazil
Luana Kaingang, 32
Kaingang, Brazil
I don't think that money will reduce the climate issue today. I think it's a matter of awareness and action. And consumption is very high for many things that we often don't need today, right? There are people who have five cars. Why do they need that today? They don't. So, I think we need to reduce this consumption, this very capitalist attitude.
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Marinete Tukano, 36 from Brazil
Marinete Tukano, 36
Tukano, Brazil
We women need to be at the dialogue table, at the main tables, at the negotiating table, present at every Cop. After all, we are the protectors, the sacred guardians of our territories.
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Marinete Tukano, 36 from Brazil
Marinete Tukano, 36
Tukano, Brazil
We women need to be at the dialogue table, at the main tables, at the negotiating table, present at every Cop, present at every conference, present and visible, because our voices as women are still not being heard. After all, we are the protectors, the sacred guardians of our territories. If the forest is unwell, Indigenous women also fall ill.
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Ingrid Sateremawe, 37 from Brazil
Ingrid Sateremawe, 37
Sateré-Mawé, Brazil
We as indigenous peoples have been shouting to the world for a long time that we have the solution. And we say this as peoples who see themselves as part of the forest.
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Ingrid Sateremawe, 37 from Brazil
Ingrid Sateremawe, 37
Sateré-Mawé, Brazil
So, we as indigenous peoples have been shouting to the world for a long time that we have the solution so that we can actually carry out the entire regeneration process. And we say this as peoples who see themselves as part of the forest.
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Angela Kaxuyana, 42 from Brazil
Angela Kaxuyana, 42
Kahyana, Brazil
I believe Cop30 in Belém will be a historic milestone, showing that negotiation tables and the setting of targets cannot take place only at the level of governments.
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Angela Kaxuyana, 42 from Brazil
Angela Kaxuyana, 42
Kahyana, Brazil
I believe Cop30 in Belém will be a historic milestone, showing that negotiation tables and the setting of targets cannot take place only at the level of governments and states. It is necessary to recognise and officially include Indigenous peoples and traditional populations to change the structure that treats Indigenous peoples as mere observers.
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Winti Kisêdjê, 52 from Brazil
Winti Kisêdjê, 52
Kisêdjê, Brazil
I believe we Indigenous peoples have the autonomy to explain this to non-Indigenous people, so they can recognize it and also adopt our way of caring for nature
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Winti Kisêdjê, 52 from Brazil
Winti Kisêdjê, 52
Kisêdjê, Brazil
Indigenous peoples who have lived with nature for a long time know it well. For us, it is like a market, something sustainable, because you don’t need to do much. I believe we Indigenous peoples have the autonomy to explain this to non-Indigenous people, so they can recognize it and also adopt our way of caring for nature, without needing to clear the forest to earn a living.
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Deisy Brigitte Escobar Piaguaje, 21 from Colombia
Deisy Brigitte Escobar Piaguaje, 21
Siona, Colombia
The knowledge of our grandfathers and grandmothers must be symbolically recognised, as the protectors of ancestral cultural knowledge.
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Deisy Brigitte Escobar Piaguaje, 21 from Colombia
Deisy Brigitte Escobar Piaguaje, 21
Siona, Colombia
The knowledge of our grandfathers and grandmothers must be symbolically recognised, as the protectors of ancestral cultural knowledge. It is also important to recognise the role of indigenous women as the main caregivers and that indigenous youth are also part of these processes. So women and young people should not be excluded, but rather we should have support to continue working together.
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Fausto Cruz, 36 from Colombia
Fausto Cruz, 36
Piratapuyo, Colombia
We are not the lungs of the world; we are life in its essence.
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Fausto Cruz, 36 from Colombia
Fausto Cruz, 36
Piratapuyo, Colombia
We are not the lungs of the world; we are life in its essence.
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Aracely Riascos Piaguán, 39 from Colombia
Aracely Riascos Piaguán, 39
Zoziobaim (Siona), Colombia
We need to be respected and taken into account. No more empty words.
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Aracely Riascos Piaguán, 39 from Colombia
Aracely Riascos Piaguán, 39
Zoziobaim (Siona), Colombia
We need to be respected and taken into account. No more empty words. They say one thing and in the long run they adopt agreements. Those in charge are just that: they continue to allow the Amazon to be deforested, to be destroyed.
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Levy Andoke, 49 from Colombia
Levy Andoke, 49
Andoque, Colombia
Obviously climate change disrupts our dynamics. Summer has shifted, winter has shifted. It changes the exercise of cultural languages a little, it harms them.
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Levy Andoke, 49 from Colombia
Levy Andoke, 49
Andoque, Colombia
The development model was based on extractivism, which was always harmful. But while we are in a conserved territory, obviously the heat harms us, obviously climate change disrupts our dynamics. Summer has shifted, winter has shifted. It changes the exercise of cultural languages a little, it harms them. But we indigenous people believe that we are not responsible for that damage.
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Lilonga Issile, 39 from DRC
Lilonga Issile, 39
Bofekalasumba, DRC
We limit the areas where we clear fields and cut trees. There are places where we don't fish. We don't hunt there either. We leave these places untouched to protect our wealth.
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Lilonga Issile, 39 from DRC
Lilonga Issile, 39
Bofekalasumba, DRC
We limit the areas where we clear fields. If one person cuts down trees here, another will have to go and cut down trees elsewhere so that we don't cut down all the trees. We have sacred forests where we never cut. There are places where we don't fish. We don't hunt there either. There are places that we leave untouched to protect our wealth.
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Brunelle Ibula, 34 from DRC
Brunelle Ibula, 34
Indigenous Pygmy, DRC
The solutions for indigenous peoples lie in the traditional initiatives and practices that we implement for sustainable forest management at the local level.
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Brunelle Ibula, 34 from DRC
Brunelle Ibula, 34
Indigenous Pygmy, DRC
Our climate resolutions are, first and foremost, the promotion of our indigenous knowledge of the climate, the implementation of sustainable agriculture that limits deforestation, participatory forest management, and the securing of our ancestral lands, which will prevent multinationals and national operators from coming in and deforesting them.
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Guylain Mbale Mola, from DRC
Guylain Mbale Mola
Bikoro, DRC
The communities that protect the forests must speak for themselves. We want more consultations, but we need to share our experience earlier because we are the real inhabitants and experts.
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Guylain Mbale Mola, from DRC
Guylain Mbale Mola
Bikoro, DRC
No one should speak on my behalf. The communities that protect the forests must speak for themselves. No one should take the lead from the Pygmy peoples. They must be involved in decision-making bodies. Fair integration. Discrimination must be eliminated. We want more consultations, but we need to share our experience earlier because we are the real inhabitants and experts on the forests.
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Dorothée Lisenga, 62 from DRC
Dorothée Lisenga, 62
Yahuma, DRC
We need projects that communities need, such as schools, roads, bridges, health centres, so that they can transport their products and prevent people from losing their possessions.
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Dorothée Lisenga, 62 from DRC
Dorothée Lisenga, 62
Yahuma, DRC
We need projects for well-supported allies, for sustainability. Projects that communities need, such as schools, roads, bridges, health centres, so that they can transport their products and prevent people from losing their possessions.
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Rukka Sombolinggi, 52 from Indonesia
Rukka Sombolinggi, 52
Toraja, Indonesia
So my message is actually to the Global North, you guys, you've got to change your way of life.
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Rukka Sombolinggi, 52 from Indonesia
Rukka Sombolinggi, 52
Toraja, Indonesia
This is our responsibility together, Indigenous peoples and non Indigenous peoples, north and south, we all have the responsibility. We share the responsibility. We cannot just say we will protect all the land of indigenous peoples, and then we still continue to emit. So my message is actually to the Global North, you guys, you've got to change your way of life.
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Wilfredo Tsamash Cabrera, 38 from Peru
Wilfredo Tsamash Cabrera, 38
Awajún, Peru
Our climate solutions focus on changing the cropping system, on associated crops that can be grown and that also allow us to restore the dynamics of wildlife.
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Wilfredo Tsamash Cabrera, 38 from Peru
Wilfredo Tsamash Cabrera, 38
Awajún, Peru
Our climate solutions focus on changing the cropping system, on associated crops that can be grown and that also allow us to restore the dynamics of wildlife. What does this mean? Restoration in degraded areas. This is very important to us because it addresses and contributes to the fight against global warming: it captures CO₂ and generates oxygen
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Jamner Manihuari, 48 from Peru
Jamner Manihuari, 48
Tupi Guarani Kukama Kukamiria, Peru
We recognize the economy that exists in the other forest, but in a very sustainable and respectful way.
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Jamner Manihuari, 48 from Peru
Jamner Manihuari, 48
Tupi Guarani Kukama Kukamiria, Peru
The state does not have that conservationist knowledge because it sees [the forest] as an economic resource. We recognize the economy that exists in the other forest, but in a very sustainable and respectful way.
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Tsanim Wajai Asamat, 33 from Peru
Tsanim Wajai Asamat, 33
Wampis, Peru
We consider ourselves to be the original guardians of the village, which we have preserved and have been preserving for a long time now.
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Tsanim Wajai Asamat, 33 from Peru
Tsanim Wajai Asamat, 33
Wampis, Peru
We consider ourselves to be the original guardians of the village, which we have preserved and have been preserving for a long time now. Not because of climate change, but because, as I said, we consider it to be our home. I think that when anyone is in their home, they try to preserve it as best they can.
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José Lizardo Moraleda, 40 from Venezuela
José Lizardo Moraleda, 40
Warao, Venezuela
Among the Warao people, if I cut down a tree, I have to plant 10 more. That way, we are fulfilling our commitment to defend climate solutions. We need a green, renewable world.
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José Lizardo Moraleda, 40 from Venezuela
José Lizardo Moraleda, 40
Warao, Venezuela
Among the Warao people, if I cut down a tree, I have to plant 10 more. That way, we are fulfilling our commitment to defend climate solutions. We need a green, renewable world.
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Hortimio Ochoa García, 39 from Venezuela
Hortimio Ochoa García, 39
Piaroa, Uwottüja, Venezuela
The only way to solve what is affecting planet Earth is with ancestral wisdom because indigenous territories are where diversity abounds.
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Hortimio Ochoa García, 39 from Venezuela
Hortimio Ochoa García, 39
Piaroa, Uwottüja, Venezuela
The only way to solve what is affecting planet Earth is with ancestral wisdom because indigenous territories are where diversity abounds. The only solution is to work on indigenous public policies, with the worldviews of our grandparents, with the wisdom of our grandparents to repair the great damage.
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Ponce Colina, 38 from Venezuela
Ponce Colina, 38
Yekuana, Venezuela
It rains more and more, the sun is hotter, in other words, global warming. What’s the cause? Deforestation. The solution is to stop mining. The forest is the most important natural resource
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Ponce Colina, 38 from Venezuela
Ponce Colina, 38
Yekuana, Venezuela
It rains more and more, the sun is hotter, in other words, global warming. What’s the cause? Deforestation. The only solution is to stop mining. The forest is the most important natural resource for indigenous peoples and is very significant because it guarantees their right to life, health, medicine and food
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Lídia Guajajara, 28 from Brazil
Lídia Guajajara, 28
Guajajara, Brazil
Demarcation is the solution to the climate crisis, because it incorporates the knowledge of indigenous peoples.
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Lídia Guajajara, 28 from Brazil
Lídia Guajajara, 28
Guajajara, Brazil
Demarcation is the solution to the climate crisis, because it incorporates the knowledge of indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples also bring this different perspective, because we don't need this progress. So, we come precisely to really open people's minds, to say that forests are not only the main solution, but they are survival for everyone. Indigenous peoples defend everyone's life.
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