Indigenous leaders from the Amazon to the Andes bring their demands to COP30
A boat with dozens of Indigenous Leaders arrived in Belem a few days before the UN's COP30 Climate Summit. They had traveled for weeks, from a glacier on the Andes mountains to Brazil's tropical coastline. They wanted to have a bigger say in the management of their territories, especially as climate change continues to escalate and other industries, such as mining, oil drilling, and logging, continue to push deeper into forests. Lucia Ixchiu from Guatemala, an Indigenous K'iche, said that they wanted to do more than guarantee money or finance. "We want a consensus that Indigenous territories will no longer be sacrificed," said Lucia Ixchiu, an Indigenous K'iche from Guatemala who was among the 60 or so passengers.
She said, "It is a dream and goal but we also know that there are multiple interests at work," as she spoke from the boat in the middle of the Brazilian Amazon. Earth Insight, the Global Alliance of Territorial Communities and others published a report last week that said, of the one-third of Amazon rainforest owned by Indigenous and local communities, 17% of these spaces are now threatened by oil and mining concessions, logging and drilling. Global Witness reports that between 2012 and 2024, 1,690 environmental activists were murdered or disappeared in countries sharing the Amazon rainforest: Congo, Indonesia Mexico Central America. Ixchiu stated that not everything must revolve around money. Mother Earth isn’t a business. Indigenous people have been using other methods to relate with biodiversity and the life on our planet for more than 12,000 years.
CELEBRATORY ARRIVAL When Ixchiu first joined the expedition she was wrapped in woolen chullo and jackets to protect her from the cold of the Andean glacier. The look changed with the warmer weather, from the purple and black short-sleeved top she wore on landing to a scene celebrating the arrival of the expedition. The group presented an offering of candles, sweets and seeds, as well as coca leaves, chants and a llama foetus. The group was part of a ritual to honor deities and Mother Earth, as well as ask permission before embarking on their journey.
The passengers of the flotilla, who exchanged boats on their journey, celebrated with caipirinhas and a banquet. Ixchiu explained that they started the journey at the headwaters rivers feeding the Amazon in order to show the dangers faced by mountain glaciers due to climate change and extraction. The Andes range is the longest in the world and contains over 99% the tropical glaciers. According to the UN World Water Development Report 2025, the Andes have lost between 30 and 50 percent of their glacier water since the 1980s.
The group made stops in Peru, Colombia and Brazil along the way to highlight the challenges faced by different Amazonian community.
In Coca, Ecuador they held a funeral of fossil fuels. In Manaus (Brazil), they organized a short film screening and community workshops. The group also held several political discussions and periodically delayed their journey due to the logistical difficulties and changing conditions of the river while observing the pollution and debris. The group changed vessels frequently, but they eventually arrived on a three-story boat they called Yaku Mama or Water Mother. Ixchiu, who traveled with Indigenous youth for a 30-day journey, said that despite tensions in geopolitics around the world and the slow pace of the COP negotiations she felt optimistic about the future.
She said, "I can see their commitment to the defense of the territory," upon her arrival in Belem. "This is the Amazon COP because we are here and demanding the places we deserve." Reporting by Karen Toro on the expedition; Alexander Villegas, in Santiago, Chile; and Valerie Volcovici, in Belem Brazil. Editing by Katigle Daigle and Diane Craft.
(source: Reuters)