Brasilia – DF, Brazil
June 30, 2023
1. We, Indigenous peoples and organizations and allies who met in Brasilia from June 28th to 30th, 2023, with the objective of evaluating and promoting a diagnosis of the construction process and deliberations regarding the holding of the Amazon Summit, which will take place in Belém – PA on the 8 and 9 of August 2023, after the Amazon Dialogues (4, 5 and 6 of August), and which intends to produce a consensus position regarding the forest to be presented in future global debates on climate action and the protection of biodiversity.
2. In view of the aforementioned proposal, we insist that the Indigenous peoples of the Amazon Basin, as true experts, deep connoisseurs and protectors of forests, still do not have the necessary and indispensable conditions to effectively participate in the processes of dialogue, proposition and construction of the aforementioned Summit.
3. We consider that dealing with the Amazon agenda without the effective participation of the Indigenous Peoples who inhabit it, demonstrates the non-recognition of our lives and the roles we play in favor of the maintenance and defense of the forests. Once again, we are faced with debates and construction of proposals about our territories without our guaranteed participation, which reveals the recurrent colonialist practice that seeks to silence our protagonism, while supplanting our voices and autonomy in decision-making spaces.
4. Before this scenario, we reaffirm our self-determination and demand the effective inclusion in the spaces, as well as the articulation and construction, especially for the Amazon Summit, as Indigenous peoples of the entire Amazon Basin, holders of the practices and knowledge essential to the maintenance of the climate balance and biodiversity.
5. We announce the creation of the Working Group that seeks to represent national and regional Indigenous organizations from the 09 countries that make up the Amazon Basin (Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname and Bolivia) with the objective of advocating from the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples, the propositions of the Amazon Summit and all subsequent processes until COP 30 in 2025.
6. We, the Indigenous peoples and organizations of the five countries that are part of the Amazon Basin present at this meeting, demand that our own forms of territorial organization and traditional and original occupation, which are independent and prior to State recognition, be considered.
7. Discussing the future of the Amazon without Indigenous peoples is equivalent to violating our original rights and all the work we do for human life on the planet.
INDIGENOUS ORGANIZATIONS THAT SIGN THIS LETTER:
Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon – COIAB
Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Brazil – APIB
Articulation of Indigenous Peoples and Organizations of the Amazon – APIAM
Roraima Indigenous Council – CIR
Coordination of Organizations and Articulations of the Indigenous Peoples of Maranhão – COAPIMA
Organization of the Indigenous Peoples of Rondônia and Northwest Mato Grosso – OPIROMA
Articulation of the Indigenous Peoples of Tocantins – ARPIT
Manxinerune Tsihi Pukte Hajene – MATPHA
Union of Indigenous Women of the Brazilian Amazon – UMIAB
Indigenous Council on Climate Change – CIMC
Confederation of Indigenous Nations and Peoples of the Eastern Cacho and Bolivian Amazon – CIDOB
Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon – CONFENIAE
Organisatie van Inheemse Volken in Suriname – OIS
Association of Amerindian Peoples – APA
National Articulation of Indigenous Women Warriors of Ancestry (ANMIGA)
ALLY ORGANIZATIONS THAT SIGN THIS LETTER:
Avaaz
The Nature Conservancy Brazil – TNC Brazil
World Wide Fund for Nature Brazil – WWF Brazil
Amazonian Cooperation Network – RCA
Amazon Watch
Voices of Just Climate Action – VAC