COP30: Indigenous Flotilla Departs from Ecuador for Belém
- Group journey brings together peoples of the Amazon basin for the UN conference.
- Arrival in the Pará state capital is expected on November 9, the eve of the summit.
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.