October 2025 -

Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla on its way to Atalaia do Norte - Brazil.Photo: Hackeo Cultural

Javari Valley: Where Defending Life Means Respecting the Right to No-Contact

Javari Valley: Where Defending Life Means Respecting the Right to No-Contact Logbook of the Visit to the Yavarí Valley on the Road to COP30 From the Amazon River After navigating from the Ecuadorian Andes and crossing Peru via the Napo and Amazon rivers, we arrived in one of the most remote and sensitive regions on the planet: the Javari Valley, at the triple border of Brazil, Peru, and Colombia. At this meeting point of waters and borders, we brought our message to the heart of the world’s largest refuge for Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI): peoples who choose to live without contact with outside society and whose existence depends directly on the integrity of the forests that shelter them. “We are born of water, and to water we return, because where water is born, life is born; and where life is born, a people is born.” — Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla From the peaks of Cayambe to the Yasuní, we sail to transform the pain of extractivism into collective strength. In the Javari Valley, that strength translated into an urgent call to protect the lives of those who only ask that their right to exist be respected. A Border Under Pressure The Javari Valley is not just a sanctuary of biodiversity: it is a territory under siege. Routes for drug trafficking, logging, illegal hunting, and mining converge here, in one of the most fragile and dangerous areas of the Amazon. It is also the territory where, in 2022, journalist Dom Phillips and indigenist Bruno Pereira were murdered while documenting these very threats. The Flotilla’s crew met with representatives of the Union of Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley (UNIVAJA) to learn firsthand about the situation of the PIACI. They also shared experiences with members of the Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO) from Peru, who, alongside UNIVAJA, are leading the Javari–Tapiche Territorial Corridor initiative—a transboundary effort seeking to protect over 16 million hectares of continuous forests, ensuring the physical and cultural survival of the PIACI. A recent report from the GTI-PIACI (2024) confirmed an alarming trend: 50% of the territories of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation in South America overlap with 4,665 mining concessions or applications, many related to “critical” minerals for the so-called energy transition. Gold accounts for 42% of these pressures, followed by tin (24%) and lithium (10%). In Brazil, where much of the Javari Valley is located, 58 PIACI records are directly affected by these activities. Risk maps created by local organizations also reveal the expansion of drug trafficking routes, illegal roads, and extractive operations within territories that should remain untouched. “The protection of the Javari–Tapiche Corridor is not just a local issue; it is a global responsibility. Guaranteeing the legal security of these territories and strengthening Indigenous governance is the most effective strategy to conserve the Amazon.”— Wakemo, young Waorani spokesperson for the Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla A Lethal and Invisible Threat The lack of official recognition and demarcation of PIACI territories not only violates fundamental rights but also puts lives at immediate risk. Their high immunological vulnerability, a result of centuries of isolation, means that even a common cold introduced by an invader can be fatal. Documented cases from past decades show how simple, accidental contacts led to the disappearance of entire peoples. Therefore, preventive protection, through exclusion zones and permanent monitoring, is the only truly ethical and viable policy. Demands for COP30: No to an Energy Transition at the Expense of the PIACI As the Flotilla advances towards Manaus and then Belém, where its journey will culminate at COP30, it carries a firm message: the energy transition cannot replicate fossil fuel injustices or sacrifice Indigenous territories in the name of the climate. From the heart of the Amazon, the Flotilla will demand: The Silence That Also Speaks The Peoples in Isolation have no speakers at summits or in the media. Their silence is, in itself, a form of resistance and a call to humanity. The Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla sails for them, for the rivers, and for the rights the world has yet to hear. Because to defend their existence is to defend the balance of the entire planet. “We continue sailing, carrying the voices of those who defend life, and the silence of those who only ask for their right to exist to be recognized.”

Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla arriving in Monterrico - Angoteros, Peru.Photo: Hackeo Cultural

Flotilla, News

A Struggle Without Borders

A Struggle Without Borders Logbook of the Second Week of the Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla on the Road to COP30 Political borders are imaginary lines; rivers, on the other hand, are the living veins that connect a single body. That was the great lesson of our second week on this journey: a voyage that led us across the invisible boundaries between Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia, proving that our struggle—like the water—flows freely, uniting peoples, languages, and hearts. Our ancestors navigated these same rivers. For them, water did not divide: it was the path. Today, on this flotilla, we feel that same connection. We crossed borders that historically fragmented the territories of sibling peoples like the Kichwa, Siekopai, Shuar, and Tikuna. Every transfer between boats, every change of flag, reminded us that we are a single Amazon people defending the same territory: the territory of life. Education as Resistance in the Peruvian Jungle Today, on this flotilla, we feel that same connection. We crossed borders that historically fragmented the territories of sibling peoples like the Kichwa, Siekopai, Shuar, and Tikuna. Every transfer between boats, every change of flag, reminded us that we are a single Amazon people defending the same territory: the territory of life. Since 1975, this institution has been a pioneer in intercultural bilingual education. Here, Kichwa is not just a subject: it is the language in which students learn, dream, and build the future. Students from 29 communities, including the Siekopai, live in a boarding school where they are taught that ancestral wisdom and modern knowledge can walk together. This school is a seed of resistance: a reminder that educating in the language of the territory is also a way of defending it. Technology and Ancestral Guardianship in Vista Hermosa A six-hour navigation brought us, on October 19th, to an island on the Napo River: the community of Vista Hermosa. They were waiting for us on the shore with banners and songs against mining and oil. Their welcome had the strength of those who know what is at stake. As night fell, they shared their greatest achievement with us: a satellite territorial monitoring system, managed by the Kichwa, Ticuna, and Matsés communities themselves, in partnership with ORPIO and Rainforest Foundation US. Using drones, GPS, and satellite alerts, they patrol one million hectares, guarding the forest against logging and extractive invasions. But the most inspiring part is who leads this defense: the women. They organize the patrols, generate the alerts, and have even created “community nurseries” to care for their children while they protect the territory. Vista Hermosa showed us that technology can be a tool of love and guardianship when it is used from the root. Encountering the Great River and the Memory of Rubber That same day, we reached the port of Mazán. After a short trip by mototaxi, it appeared before us: the majestic Amazon River. Although the Napo is immense, the Amazon is on another scale: it is a force that envelops you, reminding you how small you are in the face of its greatness. From there, we continued to Iquitos, the largest river city in Peru, built on a history of exploitation and pain: the rubber boom. Today, its streets and docks preserve the memory of a time of slavery and deforestation, but also the will to heal. Arriving in Iquitos was a milestone: a thousand kilometers navigated, and a deep conviction to transform that memory into justice. The Amazon Venice and the Threat of Flooding On October 20th, we visited the Belén neighborhood, known as the “Amazon Venice.”Its floating houses, its markets of fruits and natural medicines, and its daily rhythm in sync with the river show an admirable adaptation to the pulse of the water. But that pulse is changing. The floods, increasingly extreme due to climate change and deforestation, threaten the lives of thousands of families. Belén is a mirror of the climate crisis: a place where resilience becomes a way of life, even when the threat comes from far away. Cinema, Wisdom, and Indigenous Governance That afternoon, on Muyuna beach, cinema floated alongside us. We participated in a Floating Film Festival, where audiovisual works created by the crew members themselves were screened. It was a moment of collective introspection: seeing ourselves on screen was also recognizing ourselves in the struggles of other territories. On October 21st, we shared a workday with the Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO). There, visions and strategies intersected: OPIAC from Colombia spoke about territorial monitoring in the face of armed groups; representatives from the Sierra Nevada shared their progress in solar energy; and the Waorani from Ecuador told of their historic resistance to oil in Yasuní. We left those tables with a certainty: living solutions already exist, and they are in our communities. The Triple Frontier and Art as Resistance Between October 22 and 25, we arrived in Leticia, Colombia, the point where the borders of Colombia, Peru, and Brazil dissolve into the river Here, at the Indigenous Cuisine Festival, we shared food, knowledge, and laughter, confirming that the Amazon cultural matrix is one: the jungle that feeds us, heals us, and allows us to exist. We met again with OPIAC, which shared its experience in creating the Indigenous-led Health System and the struggle for the demarcation of reserves. On October 25th, we crossed to the Tikuna Community of San Juan de Barranco, where we were received with the Pelazón ceremony: a ritual that celebrates the transition from girl to woman and honors the continuity of life. That day, Amazon artist Rosi War joined her voice with the community’s in a concert that resonated like a collective song for the jungle. This week taught us that although the threats are global, so is the resistance. We crossed physical borders, but above all, we broke down the borders that separate us.We continue sailing, more united and stronger, towards Belém—where the Amazon will rise to demand that the world listen to the call

Flotilla, News

The River Unites Us: From the Andes to the Amazon, We Sail to Heal the Earth

From the Andes to the Amazon: The First Steps of the Yaku Mama Amazonian Flotilla’s Journey Quito, the Ecuadorian capital located at the center of the world, high in the Andes Mountains. Belém, the capital of the state of Pará, Brazil, situated on the Amazon River as it flows towards its mouth in the Atlantic Ocean. More than 3,000 km not only measure the distance between these two points on a map but also encompass the diverse habitats of biological diversity and the cultural coexistence of Indigenous peoples and nationalities of South America, from the peaks of the glaciers to the depths of the Amazon. Our goal is to reach COP30, the UN Climate Change Conference. This year, it will be held in Belém do Pará. The starting point of our journey is Quito. Along our route, we are documenting with the intention of making visible the problems of mining, oil exploitation, deforestation, climate change, and their environmental impact on our communities. Our path is guided by the flow of water, from glaciers and high-altitude páramos to the dense Amazon rainforest, in a vital cycle from which we take our name: Amazon Flotilla Yaku Mama. We began the river journey in the port city of Francisco de Orellana, better known as El Coca. This choice had symbolic value, as it was from this very point on February 12, 1542, that the boats of the colonizer who gave the city its name set sail. Today, at this same latitude, over 60 Indigenous and nature defense organizations are setting out with the intention of confronting our colonial and extractivist past, to transform the pain of devastation into collective action. “This flotilla is not just a protest; it is a living message sailing through the veins of the Amazon. The river itself shows us its scars: the oil slicks, the wound of mining. We are not just coming to bring a problem to COP30; we are coming to present the solutions that our peoples and the forest have cultivated for millennia.” – Alexis Grefa, a young Kichwa Amazonian from Ecuador. As the Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla, we sail with a collective call for Climate Justice on our way to COP30, the most significant international event under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Our message is clear: the era of fossil fuels in the Amazon must end. We do not want the Amazon to become a new sacrifice zone. From the Cayambe Glacier to the Amazon River “Glaciers, rivers, and the rainforest are not separate worlds. They are a single body, a Sacred cycle that sustains life.” – Leo Cerda, Indigenous leader and activist October 9. Cayambe, Pichincha, Ecuador. The first point of the expedition was the Cayambe Volcano, at over 4,600 meters above sea level in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador. Even here, so far from populated centers, in a space that appears purely natural and even inhospitable to humans, the effects of climate change are visible: the snow recedes year after year, and the glacier’s surface area has shrunk. Other glaciers in the region are suffering the same fate. According to a report by the MapBiomas Water initiative, between 1985 and 2022, 184,000 hectares (56%) of glacier surface area were lost in the Amazon countries. The loss of glaciers has a direct impact on altering rain cycles, soil degradation, and access to water, which makes the populations dependent on these ecosystems vulnerable. It is also a clear sign of global warming; without ice and glaciers, the planet will lose its reserves of water, a basic element for life. It is significant that our journey symbolically begins here, an invitation to reflect on the impact of environmental damage in the region. It invites us to understand how two apparently separate worlds are connected: the Sierra (Andes Mountains) and the Amazon. From glaciers like Cayambe comes the water that feeds the rainforest, flowing all the way to the Amazon River before returning to the highlands in a sacred cycle. On top of Mama Cayambe, a sacred huaca for the Andean Kichwa peoples, we held an ancestral ceremony focused on the importance of glaciers, the Andean páramos, and their connection to the Amazon. Here, we also raised a message calling for awareness that this cycle is threatened by deforestation and climate change. We began our journey after greeting and gathering the energy and strength of the Indigenous peoples of the Andescommunities in resistance like the Kayambi, Otavalo, Natabuela, and Karanki. We visited emblematic sites in the city of Quito, rested, and organized the logistics and luggage for our overland trip to descend from the Andes to the Amazon. Anti-Hegemonic Narratives and Amazon Youth in Defense of the Amazon from Climate Change October 13. Serena, Napo, Ecuador. From the heights of the páramos and the cold mountain wind, we headed to the heart of the Kichwa Amazonian territory in the Napo province. We followed a road that runs along the riverbank until we reached a pedestrian bridge that leads to the community of Serena. We began the day with a welcoming ceremony, introductions, and giving thanks to the elements. The community received us with a traditional breakfast in the warmth that characterizes humid tropical climates, setting the tone for our journey to Belém. Serena is renowned for its activism and leadership in territorial defense and climate action. This region has been affected by gold mining, which causes forest destruction, contamination of water sources, and ecosystem degradation. Among Serena’s most recognized initiatives are the World Indigenous Youth Forum on Climate Change and the Yuturi Warmi Indigenous Guard, the latter led by over 40 Indigenous women. Here, we participated in the Workshop: “Anti-Hegemonic Narratives and Amazonian Youth in Defense of the Amazon from Climate Change.” It was a space for collective creation to devise strategies that allow us to transform words and art into tools for defending our territory, culture, and life. We developed reflections that allow us to see our personal, community, territorial,

Flotilla, News

Indigenous Flotilla Arrives in Peru to Share More Stories of Amazonian Resistance

Indigenous Flotilla Arrives in Peru to Share More Stories of Amazonian Resistance “Today we set foot on land in Iquitos,” says Lucia Ixchiu, part of the Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla‘s Coordination team. By EmergentesOctober 23, 2025 15:50By Lucía Ixchiu Amidst the heat that embraces the Amazon jungle, after crossing the border from Ecuador to Peru and stopping at the Island of Yarina, we continued towards Iquitos, the largest city in the world inaccessible by road. We docked around 4 PM and said goodbye to the pilots and boats that had accompanied us for several days. We arrived at the place where we would stay for the next three days of this journey upriver. Finally, we left the Napo River and met the immense Amazon River. Between lines for food, lines to unload luggage, lines for mototaxis, and lines to board the buses that would take us to where we would sleep, we finally had the chance to stretch our backs on something other than the floor. This journey is a profound existential transformation and, in my view, a precious gift for traveling one of the routes that allows us to traverse not only the river but also our inner selves. After disembarking, we still feel, for days on end, the sensation of being on the water. Arriving at the hotel amidst the chaos and traffic was, without a doubt, another adventure. We were finally able to sleep and rest our bodies to continue the next day with an agenda led by Muyuna—a floating cinema collective from the city that works amidst the waters. We began our tour in the Belén neighborhood, where we saw a peculiar market with all kinds of plants and species that only exist in the Amazon jungle—turtle eggs, edible grubs, diverse smells, and a polluted river were part of the scene, in stark contrast to the living rivers we had been observing before reaching the city. The city of Iquitos floods from December to May every year, and the population learned to live this way a long time ago. I find this surprising due to their ability to adapt to reality, although, of course, the changes and floods are also an effect of biodiversity destruction. After lunch, we headed to the port to continue traveling through the lagoons and rivers of these territories. We arrived at Muyuna beach, or Isla Bonita, where we held an act of solidarity with Brazil. Yesterday, we learned that an offshore oil exploration license was granted to Petrobras. It is very powerful and painful that, in the midst of the flotilla, these things still happen, but at least we are together to support each other across territories. Touching the earth is also part of this journey on water. Our Mayan ancestors said that part of balance is harmonizing water, fire, air, and earth, and that is what we seek now. We are drawing strength from the land, looking for a bit of calm to continue venturing into this jungle that is so intense and beautiful at the same time. This trip dismantles myths and stereotypes about the jungle. Being here is not easy or romantic, but that’s how life is. The rashes on our skin and the thousands of bites from bugs, fleas, and mosquitoes remind us that honoring nature and being part of it also means accepting all of this—that leaving our comfort zone is part of breaking away from the convenience and parasitism of cities, and that returning to the land is anything but simple. The jungle has its own time, its own rules, and its own path. Thank you to it for welcoming us and teaching us to walk with it. Source: MidiaNinja

Community, News

With Satellite Technology, Amazonian Indigenous Peoples in Peru Monitor Illegal Deforestation

With Satellite Technology, Amazonian Indigenous Peoples in Peru Monitor Illegal Deforestation In this new chapter of the Yaku Mama Flotilla’s travel diary, a journey into the experience of the Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO) satellite monitoring in their fight against illegal logging. By EmergentesOctober 23, 2025 11:00 AMBy Lucía Ixchíu With the Yasuní River by our side, we set off to cross the border that separates the peoples and communities along what we now call the line between Ecuador and Peru. In the community of Yarina, in the Loreto province, the sons and daughters of the river and the stream welcomed us with songs and a contagious joy for our visit. Hugs and greetings were exchanged between the peoples, who asked us, repeatedly, to carry and amplify their voice as guardians of the forest. For years, communities of different nationalities have been monitoring and protecting the jungle in an area of over six million hectares of Amazon rainforest—all with their own resources and ancestral knowledge. The Regional Organization of Indigenous Peoples of the East (ORPIO) has been working for several years, supporting everything from land titling to the development of its own pioneering, technology-assisted monitoring system. Amidst the risks and impunity that mark the defense of territory in Abya Yala—threatened with death and persecuted by industries of all kinds—they stand firm, with the conviction to expand the territories where they can watch over and unite in the protection of one of the most important forests on the planet. We swam in the river that, for hundreds of years, has been home to thousands of species. We swam and saw the Sapara and Sarayaku peoples rowing in the same canoe. “The answers have always been in our territories,” said the participants in the Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla Our gathering ended with a dinner and a detailed explanation from the community’s apus (leaders), monitors, and community technicians about their work and how they watch over the forest against illegal extraction The conversation was led by women, youth, and by those who place life at the center of everything. A blanket of stars accompanied us throughout the night, and lulled by the river, we rested. With the singing of birds, the sun rose, and we departed again, saying goodbye to Yarina and everything it taught us in such a short time. This time, we left with more hope: the future is today—and it is being built by the peoples who walk, create, and, like ants, change the world. Source: MidiaNinja

News

Yaku Mama Navigation Diary: The Flotilla Was Born from a Dream

Yaku Mama Navigation Diary: The Flotilla Was Born from a Dream By: Leo Cerda In this entry of the Yaku Mama Navigation Diary, I want to share the dream that started it all. Our struggle is for racial, social, and climate justice. The Amazon is at a tipping point — it’s now or never. We need to amplify our voices and claim our rightful place in decision-making spaces, demanding that climate finance reach our communities directly and effectively. It’s not enough to acknowledge our role; it is essential to ensure resources that strengthen our autonomy, our initiatives, and our right to live in and defend our lands. If we fail to provide real and sustained support to those of us protecting the forests, we risk losing them forever — and without forests, there can be no future for humanity. Let this call resonate loudly: the world must listen to, learn from, and collaborate with Indigenous peoples to achieve true and lasting solutions. The Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla carries a shared message: we are not alone, and Indigenous communities offer powerful climate solutions grounded in lived experience. As we travel along the rivers of the Amazon, we carry an invitation — to life, to hope, and to reconciliation — challenging the legacy of violence, exploitation, and colonization. This journey is not one of conquest or destruction, but of unity, reconnection, and solutions from the territory itself — a living testament to the strength and resilience of the Amazon and its peoples.

Destacado

Press Release: The Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla Embarks on a Historic Journey to COP30

Press Release: The Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla Embarks on a Historic Journey to COP30 QUITO, ECUADOR – October 16, 2025. The “Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla“ is launching a symbolic journey from the city of Coca in Ecuador to demand a new paradigm: placing the Amazon at the heart of the fight for climate justice and promoting an end to fossil fuel extraction and use. Connecting the Andes to the Amazon, a coalition of 60 Indigenous and territorial organizations, alongside allies from around the world, will travel more than 3,000 kilometers toward COP30, to be held in Belém, Brazil, in early November. This journey is not just an act of protest but a powerful demand: climate justice must become a reality, and fossil fuel extraction in the Amazon must end now. The flotilla participants previously gathered in Quito as a starting point. This choice was not merely symbolic but sought to confront history: it was from this city, in 1541, that Francisco de Orellana’s expedition departed, culminating in the ‘discovery’ of the Amazon River. Today, the “Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla” symbolically reverses that route of conquest into one of connection, honoring the resistance of Indigenous Peoples and the first continental uprising of 1992, with the goal of making the world finally listen to the voices of the territories. “This journey is an act of resistance and empowerment that links the climate crisis to its colonial and extractivist roots, positioning the peoples who have contributed least to it as the most affected. It is an urgent call to COP30 to recognize that true climate justice is born from the land, flows with its rivers, and is sustained by those who protect it,” stated Lucía Ixchú, a Maya K’iche’ Indigenous woman from Guatemala and spokesperson for the flotilla. To begin the journey, the flotilla’s crew, together with ally organizations, will hold a symbolic funeral to bid farewell to the era of fossil fuels that has devastated the Amazon. This collective action denounces the false solutions that, in the name of the energy transition, continue to impose extractive projects and new sacrifice zones on Indigenous territories. In response, the Amazonian peoples reclaim their right to decide over their territories and to lead the way toward a just and living transition without creating new sacrifice zones through mining, oil spills, and monocultures. The Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla demands a truly fair and binding energy transition. Indigenous Peoples urge governments and companies to ensure that any clean energy project respects Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) and puts an end to fossil fuel developments that jeopardize their territories and ways of life. At the same time, they call for the recognition and protection of intangible zones for Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI), whose existence and well-being depend on territories free from exploitation. Protecting these forests not only guarantees the survival of these peoples but also preserves biodiversity, maintains global climate balance, and ensures the quality of life for all inhabitants of the planet. The journey begins at a critical time for the Amazon. According to a report presented by the Monitoring of the Andean Amazon Project (MAAP) last year, 2024 marked a devastating record with the loss of 4.5 million hectares of primary forest due to deforestation and fires. This destruction is driven by the advance of extractivism; the same study reveals that deforestation from gold mining has increased by over 50% since 2018, with 36% of it occurring within protected areas and Indigenous territories. The River That Flows: from History to Hope “We are in Ecuador today for a very specific reason. Centuries ago, missions departed from Quito that claimed the ‘discovery’ of the Great Amazon River, bringing conquest to our territories,” affirmed Leo Cerda, a Kichwa Indigenous person from Napo, Ecuador. “We too have come to Quito, that historic starting point, to reclaim this route. And on October 16th, from Francisco de Orellana—the city of Coca—we will embark on a new journey that honors the memory of struggle and resistance of the Amazonian Indigenous Peoples. We also dedicate this journey to the memory of October 12th as a symbol of the resilience of the Peoples of the Americas. We set out not to conquer, but to connect; so that the world, finally, will listen to the voices of the territory,” he added. The flotilla is composed of a delegation of fifty people, including representatives of Indigenous peoples and civil society organizations from the Amazon, Mesoamerica, the Republic of Congo, and Indonesia. It will travel the Amazon River to denounce the “scars of extractivism”—such as illegal mining and deforestation—and, at the same time, highlight the strength of the living alternatives in their communities, such as productive enterprises, territorial monitoring, and ancestral science. The Era of Fossil Fuels in the Amazon Must End Fossil fuels not only harm the environment; they are a driver of social violence. Worldwide, especially in the Amazon, defending the territory has become a death sentence. According to the latest report from Global Witness, published in 2024, between 2012 and 2024 alone, at least 2,253 defenders have been murdered or have disappeared, 40% of whom were Indigenous. Violence against the Amazon is manifested in the silent expansion of the oil and fossil gas industry. Between 2012 and 2020, the number of exploitation fields increased by 13%, and today, extraction is present in eight of the nine Amazonian countries. According to InfoAmazonia and Arayara, oil exploration overlaps with 441 ancestral territories and 61 natural protected areas, devouring the rainforest and directly threatening the lives and self-determination of Indigenous peoples. Across the Pan-Amazon, there are 933 oil and gas blocks, of which 472 are in Brazil, 71 in Ecuador, 59 in Peru, and 47 in Colombia, many located within protected areas or Indigenous territories. The impact of this industry is devastating: between 2000 and 2023, Peru recorded 831 oil spills, and Ecuador, 1,584 between 2012 and 2022. In Brazil, the attempt to open a new oil frontier at the mouth

News

The Amazon Flotilla Yaku Mama Sets Sail: 3,000 Kilometers Through the Amazon to Bring Their Peoples’ Voice to COP30

The Amazon Flotilla Yaku Mama Sets Sail: 3,000 Kilometers Through the Amazon to Bring Their Peoples’ Voice to COP30 Representatives of Indigenous communities have departed from the Andes in Ecuador, in the Amazon Flotilla Yaku Mama with the goal of ensuring the first climate summit held in the Amazon takes their demands, such as an end to fossil fuels, into account. The image of a woman carrying a live anaconda in her hands was a powerful sight on the morning of Thursday, October 16, at the port of the city of Francisco de Orellana, better known as El Coca, in the Ecuadorian Amazon. The banner bearing this image hung from a two-story boat, docked and awaiting its passengers. Beside it, black letters on an orange background stood out not only for their color but for what they announced: “Yaku Mama, Amazon Flotilla: from the Andes to the Amazon. On the way to Belém for COP30.” The presence of this boat in the Ecuadorian port marked the beginning of the journey for more than 50 Indigenous representatives and organizations from across the Amazon basin. For nearly a month, the flotilla will travel along the Amazon River and its tributaries to Brazil to participate in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30), which will take place from November 10 to 21. This group will cover around 3,000 kilometers through four countries on various boats to bring Amazonian voices to the most important negotiations for the future of the planet. “The flotilla is a space to share experiences and reflect on issues that are discussed at the COPs and that have historically been addressed without the participation of Indigenous peoples,” explains Alexis Grefa, one of the youth representatives of the Kichwa people of Santa Clara, Ecuador, and part of the Amazon flotilla’s organizing team. At 29, Grefa is intimately familiar with how these negotiations are conducted, having participated in previous climate change and biodiversity COPs. On this occasion, as it is the first time the event is being held in an Amazonian city, he hopes that the demands of Indigenous peoples—such as direct financing, a just energy transition, the elimination of fossil fuels, and respect for prior consultation—will be taken into account. A Dream Come TrueThat Thursday morning, the boat began to fill with different accents, languages, and music. Some took photos, others explored the spaces, and a few sat to watch the landscape. The top deck became everyone’s favorite spot for its view of the Napo River. A few minutes into the journey, representatives of different Indigenous peoples and nationalities from the Ecuadorian Amazon offered words of encouragement and recalled the mission of the trip. “Let everyone know that in our communities, we are suffering from a giant monster that is attacking us,” said Elsa Cerda, a representative of the Yuturi Warmi women’s Indigenous guard, referring to mining and oil extraction. After a symbolic three-hour tour, the boat returned to the port of El Coca. To reach their first stop, Nueva Rocafuerte, on the border with Peru, it was necessary to take motorized speedboats, known as deslizadores, to shorten the travel time. Through his glasses, Grefa watched the banner from the port before departing. “It’s a collective dream,” he reflected, adjusting a t-shirt that also had a snake painted on it. This image of the anaconda, considered the keeper of the river, had already appeared in the dreams of people from different parts of the Amazon who helped organize the flotilla. That’s why, when the idea took shape, they decided to name it Yaku Mama (Mother Water) and use this serpent, which transforms into a woman, as their logo. The proposal to travel these rivers began to form when it was announced that Belém would host these negotiations. From that moment on, various organizations joined in to map out the route and define the activities. At each stop, events will be held to address issues relevant to those territories. In Ecuador, for example, before the flotilla’s departure from the Amazon, a visit was organized to the Cayambe glacier in the highlands to show the connection between the mountains, the páramos, and the rainforest. They also visited the country’s capital as a symbolic act. “Centuries ago, missions departed from Quito that claimed the discovery of the great Amazon River, bringing conquest to our territories,” says Leo Cerda, a Kichwa representative from Napo. Before arriving in El Coca, there was also a journey down the Jatunyaku River. For Noveni Usun, from the Dayak Bahau Indigenous group of Indonesia, visiting the communities on the banks of this river, which is affected by illegal mining in the Napo province, was one of the most impactful experiences. “This also happens in my region, and seeing how they fight here is very inspiring,” says the 28-year-old, who flew for three days from her country to Ecuador to be part of the flotilla. She is one of the members of this group, along with other representatives from Guatemala, Panama, and England, who are not from the Amazon basin but came to exchange experiences on the various threats affecting forests around the world. A Path to Bury Fossil FuelsIn El Coca, the day before the flotilla’s departure, a symbolic funeral for fossil fuels was held. Grefa and other group members carried a black cardboard coffin with signs on its sides that read “R.I.P. Oil” through the city streets. Behind them, the rest of the members marched with Yaku Mama banners and others with messages against fossil fuel exploitation. “Oil is part of biodiversity, and it is the companies that take it out of the earth and pollute. We are going to return it to where it belongs,” said Lucía Ixchiu, a Maya K’iche woman from Guatemala, as she received the coffin at the port. After lighting candles around it, symbolizing the deaths caused by fossil fuels and honoring murdered environmental defenders, representatives of different Indigenous nationalities of Ecuador showed their support for the act. The fight to reduce and eliminate fossil

News

Yaku Mama Navigation Diary: Inside the Indigenous Flotilla on its Way to COP30

Yaku Mama Navigation Diary: Inside the Indigenous Flotilla on its Way to COP30 This will be a series of narrative and testimonial texts from the Yaku Mama Flotilla as it navigates the Amazon River towards Brazil.By Emergentes By: Lucía Ixchiu First Week With eyes full of green, amidst the sounds of water and the jungle, I begin this account from the heart of the flotilla. What is a Maya K’iche woman doing in the middle of the Amazon rainforest, on her way to Brazil? I feel the river and the jungle, and how we connect as the journey progresses. Between the waters of the Napo and Yasuní rivers, we head towards Pantoja, on the border between Ecuador and Peru, a region that, years ago, was in conflict. With the permission and the sound of grandmother Cayambe, the glacier where the Amazon River is born, and with our offering received by the earth, we began this journey. We have already covered a third of this voyage of sisterhood between territories, of solidarity and shared learning. For the K’iche people, forests are an essential part of their existence. To honor the Amazon is also to honor all the jungles and forests of the world. Our eyes fill with colors as we contemplate the biodiversity, but our souls ache knowing it is threatened by oil companies and all kinds of extractive industries that see it as a resource and a profitable business. The songs of birds break the silence, and the sound of water accompanies us on our second day down the river. The Waorani peoples lead the protection of the Yasuní National Park, having lived with it for hundreds of years, and today we came to their home. This is also the home of the pink river dolphin, which we briefly saw hide in the waters of the Jatuncocha lagoon, as well as hundreds of thousands of species that make up this great grandmother we call the Amazon rainforest. Right now, we are navigating downriver, to the south, to continue with this flotilla of hope and solidarity among peoples. For most of us participating in this journey, this is a territory we are visiting and observing for the first time. In Coca, we held an exchange to learn about the experiences of the peoples and organizations confronting fossil fuels. At the end of the day, we participated in a march for Mother Earth through the town’s streets, culminating in a political act where we covered the statue of Francisco de Orellana, to whom the conquest of the Amazon is attributed. We named the defenders of the Amazon who were taken from us and concluded with an exchange of speeches before embarking the next day. On this flotilla, composed of several small boats, we, Indigenous people from different parts of the continent and the world, are traveling. We have come to travel a route that seeks to amplify the voices of the territories and their first inhabitants.

News

COP30: Indigenous Flotilla Departs from Ecuador for Belém

COP30: Indigenous Flotilla Departs from Ecuador for Belém SÃO PAULO – A group of Indigenous people has embarked on a journey of over 3,000 km along the rivers of Abya Yala—the ancestral name for the American continent. The Yaku Mama (Mother Water) Amazon flotilla began its journey in the Andes Mountains of Ecuador, heading to COP30, the United Nations climate conference to be held in Belém, Pará, in November. Over the 25-day journey, the group is expected to grow in size along the route. Yaku Mama departed on October 8 from the region of the Cayambe volcano, following a sacred ritual, and plans to disembark in the Pará state capital on November 9, the eve of the conference’s start. Before that, they will travel through Coca and Nueva Rocafuerte in Ecuador; Iquitos in Peru; Leticia in Colombia; and Manaus and Santarém in Brazil. There is not yet a final count of how many boats and people are expected to arrive at COP30. According to the group, the objective is to promote joint climate justice agendas, as well as to document and share stories of climate action. The expedition also hopes to advance climate policies and financing that meet the priorities of the communities. In Belém, the work will also focus on advocating for the recognition and integration of traditional knowledge into climate solutions. Alexis Grefa, a Kichwa Indigenous person and one of the flotilla’s organizers, says that the trip is funded by collectives of Indigenous peoples. According to him, upon arriving in Belém, the group will divide itself among their own camps and the COP Village (Aldeia COP)—a space provided by the federal government for Indigenous peoples—in addition to the boats themselves. “The message of the caravan is the fight against predatory projects that exist in our territories, such as mining companies, oil companies, hydroelectric dams, and carbon markets. These are struggles we face with resistance daily in our territories,” Grefa tells Folha. “We hope that COP30 will be different from the last COPs. This edition truly gives us hope for a greater response. Above all, not just for negotiations, but also for Indigenous peoples to be invited to make the decisions,” he emphasizes. INDIGENOUS COALITION In October 2024, Indigenous people from the nine countries of the Amazon basin formed the G9, a new coalition group announced during COP16, the United Nations biodiversity conference held in Cali, Colombia. At that time, the group launched the “We Are the Answer” (“A Resposta Somos Nós”) campaign, which advocates for the same objectives as the Yaku Mama flotilla. Since then, Indigenous peoples have been pressuring their respective governments to defend the biomes, traditional peoples, biodiversity, and the global climate. In April of this year, the G9 met with Indigenous leaders from Oceania at the ATL (Free Land Camp), the largest mobilization of Indigenous peoples in Latin America, which takes place annually in Brasília. The meeting aligned demands that are to be raised at the climate conferences. Among the main demands is the demarcation of Indigenous land as a measure for nature preservation. One week after the ATL, activists from 70 countries also participated in a five-day program in Brasília on a just energy transition. At the event, they aligned their agendas on the effects of climate change on the most vulnerable peoples. The results of the debates and studies will be taken to the COP30.