October 2025

Calls To Action From Indigenous Peoples for COP30 1 Recognition and protection of all indigenous territories, especially territories with the presence of Indigenous Peoples in Isolation and Initial Contact (PIACI), as climate policy and action For Indigenous Peoples, the territory goes beyond a physical space — it is a sacred place where all beings coexist in harmony, uniting the spiritual and the material, the individual and the collective, the past and the present. It is in this integral relationship with the land that good living and a full life are built, essential for the preservation of the planet. The demarcation and full protection of indigenous territories, especially those where the PIACI are present, are effective climate policies that guarantee our rights and strengthen biodiversity conservation and climate balance. 2 Direct financing and financial autonomy Financial mechanisms, including those of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), must include and prioritize mechanisms for direct access to resources for IndigenousPeoples, strengthening our own organizations, funds, and strategies to mitigate, adapt, and combat loss and damage. We demand that the financial architecture of the UNFCCC include our indigenous organizations and our own financial mechanisms, such as existing indigenous funds, for the allocation of resources aimed at climate mitigation, adaptation, and combating loss and damage in indigenous territories. 3 Representation and effective participation Ensure in all climate decision-making spaces, including those at COP30, the full, equitable, inclusive, effective and gender-responsive representation and participation of Indigenous Peoples in decision-making. It is critical to ensure that this representation derives from our own systems of government. 4 Protection of indigenous defenders The safety of leaders and defenders who protect the forest must be an essential part of climate policies. 5 Inclusion of Indigenous knowledge systems Our Indigenous knowledge systems and sustainable ways of life must be recognizedas legitimate strategies for mitigation, adaptation, and environmental restoration. 6 Exploitation-free zones in indigenous territories We demand a decree establishing indigenous territories as areas free from extractive activities, in order to protect life, rights, and ecosystems.

DECLARATION WE SAIL UNITED FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE We, Indigenous Peoples, organizations, movements, and coalitions from Abya Yala and around the world, defenders of nature, the Amazon, and our rights, gather today in Quito for a clear reason: centuries ago, from this city, departed the missions that, under the pretext of ‘discovering’ the Great Amazon River, unleashed conquest upon our territories and the entire Amazon. Today, from this very same point, in memory of October 12th—the beginning of the colonization of the Americas—and in commemoration of the first great uprising of Indigenous Peoples across the continent in 1992, we begin a new chapter. We set out not to conquer, but to connect. We set out so that the world may finally hear the voices from our territories. On the eve of October 12, a date that marks centuries of dispossession, we present the Yaku Mama Amazon Flotilla, a coalition of peoples, communities, organizations, and movements uniting to travel 3,000 km from the Andean glaciers of Ecuador to Belém, Brazil, for COP30. United as one body—the Andes, the Amazon, and the world’s forests—we sail to remember that the life of the planet depends on the protection of our territories and our rights. We sail to remind the world that true climate action is not signed in agreements—it is lived and defended in our territories every day. We sail to tell the world that the Amazon and our Indigenous and collective territories are the heart of the global climate response. This journey is diversity in motion. At each stop, we will show the scars of extractivism—illegal mining, oil spills, false climate solutions—and we will also reveal the strength of our alternatives: the living forest economy, ancestral science, and collective governance. We are not going to Belém to ask for a seat at the table; we are going to demand that climate policies be built from the territories, with justice for those of us who protect life. OUR DENUNCIATIONS OUR PROPOSALS AND DEMANDS We sail from the middle of the world to shift the center of decision-making from boardrooms to the territories, because true climate justice is born from the land, flows with its rivers, and is upheld by those who protect it. Declaration issued worldwide on October 9, 2025 Signatories: