WITH the United Nations conference of parties (Cop) climate talks fast approaching, thousands of Indigenous people marched in Brazil’s capital on Tuesday.

The protesters demanded that the state guarantee and expand their rights to traditional lands as part of the solution to the world’s climate crisis.

Bearing messages such as “Land rights = Climate Action,” they walked toward Three Powers Square in Brasilia, where congress, the supreme court and the presidential palace are located.

“Indigenous territories are the most preserved and contribute to slowing the climate crisis we’re facing. But they are also the first to be impacted,” said Luene Karipuna, from the Amazonian state of Amapa.

Dinamam Tuxa, co-ordinator of the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil, said: “The Cop is a political moment when countries come together to negotiate the climate crisis, but unfortunately it does not engage directly with Indigenous peoples at the negotiation tables — even though we are the main defenders of these territories and are actively fighting climate change.” 

Thirteen per cent of Brazil’s territory consists of recognised Indigenous lands, mostly in the Amazon.

In the past two years, the Amazon basin has suffered its worst drought on record, leading to a surge in wildfires, isolation for river communities, crop losses and destruction of wildlife. 

Studies have linked the region’s extreme weather to climate change.