Voices from the land: Seven Indigenous paths to protect the Amazon (commentary)

This series, Voices from the Land, brings together opinion pieces led and written by Indigenous peoples from around the world. Through these commentaries, we share our lived realities and reflections on urgent issues shaping our time — environmental destruction, our relationship with nature, and systemic injustice. We write from the heart of our communities, where the impacts of these urgent crises are deeply felt, but also where solutions are rooted. Through this series, we speak from our territories, and ensure our truths are part of the global conversation. We carry with us the memory of our grandfathers and grandmothers and the vision of our Indigenous governments. We say “governments” because that is what we are. For thousands of years, we have administered, used, and managed our territories, recognizing the interrelationships between all beings and life cycles, guided by the mandates of our traditional authorities. As one of us, Patricia Suárez, Indigenous member of the Murui people, highlights: “Our grandparents taught us to listen, to give abundantly, to speak with words full of life and a sweet heart. We understand the territory because we are part of it. The river speaks to us and the jungle listens to us. But the [national] governments do not listen to us.” To reaffirm our stance on the world stage, Indigenous organizations from the Amazon Basin — representing more than 511 peoples — met in Brasília on June 2 with a clear purpose: to discuss the solutions we are implementing in our territories to address…This article was originally published on Mongabay