“The whole world invites us to meetings, except our state”, says Txai Suruí at COP27

“When three women from Rondônia go up here [no palco]our environment secretary is absent”, said this Saturday (12) the indigenous activist and columnist for Folha Txai Suruí, in a speech at the pavilion organized by the states of the Legal Amazon at COP27, the UN Climate Conference that goes to 18th in Egypt.

In addition to her, the indigenist Neidinha Suruí, coordinator of the Kanindé association, and Marciely Ayap, coordinator of Coiab (Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon) represented the state at the event.

Rondônia’s environmental secretary, Marco Antonio Lagos, had participated in the previous panel in the stand’s programming and left the space without communicating with indigenous leaders. THE Sheet he looked for the secretary at the stand and through the press office of the Legal Amazon Consortium, but was unable to contact him.

“Whoever is at the COP talking about climate, there in Rondônia they are running out of reserves,” stated Neidinha Suruí. Last year, the state government approved laws to extinguish the Ilha das Flores State Park and to reduce the area of ​​the Limoeiro Sustainable Development Reserve. Three months ago, the decisions were ruled unconstitutional by the Court of Justice of Rondônia.

The criticisms of the leaders challenge the discourse that the governors of the Amazonian states seek to bring to COP27.

In view of the absence of the federal government on the climate agenda, the Legal Amazon Consortium began to directly seek international partners for investments and climate cooperation agreements. They set up a pavilion separate from Brazil’s official space at the conference to highlight their initiatives.

The carbon credits market is one of the instruments that most mobilizes the expectations of the private sector and governments in Brazil. The country offers great potential to sequester carbon in the soil through forest restoration, for example, or the planting of timber species.

Beyond carbon accounting, however, an international concern of countries and donors is not to link their investments with human rights violations, especially in regions with land conflicts. As a result, the voice of indigenous leaders, quilombolas and social movements has been increasingly sought after by international partners on the Brazilian environmental agenda.

“The official delegation from Brazil brought first ladies, wives of secretaries, brought them to JBS to speak at the country’s official stand, while we were not called. When are we going to bring [à COP] our true representations?”, asked Txai.

“Governors and organizations around the world invite us to meetings and our state doesn’t want to talk to us,” she added.

Violence against indigenous peoples and quilombola communities was the target of the speeches of female leaders on the panel. “Maranhão today is a hotbed of murders,” said Célia Pinto, coordinator of Conaq (National Coordination for the Articulation of Quilombos).

“That last night there was an attack against the Yanomami in Roraima; they killed a woman, wounded a man and left a baby alone, without its parents”, denounced federal deputy Joenia Wapichana (Rede-RR). “I didn’t get reelected because my state is very violent and 76% of it is Bolsonarista”, she said.

“Organized crime is not just drug trafficking, but also large estates, which enter our territories armed with weapons,” Célia stressed.

Elected federal deputy Sonia Guajajara (PSOL-SP) recalled the murders of the Guajajara people, in Maranhão, in 2019. “It was precisely when we were in Europe denouncing the attacks on our territories to the world,” she said.

THE Sheet, she stated that Apib (Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil) has not yet been approached by the transition government to discuss the creation of the Ministry of Native Peoples – a campaign promise by Lula. According to her, the portfolio should focus on articulating with other ministries and also on raising international resources to implement indigenous policies.

The Planeta em Transe project is supported by the Open Society Foundations.