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Read, Debate: Engage.
| topic: | Climate action |
|---|---|
| located: | Brazil |
| editor: | Ellen Nemitz |
"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words”, said Greta Thunberg on Monday, September 23, during the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit – a meeting to which Brazil's and the U.S.’ chiefs were not invited to due to their disengagement with environmental issues. Despite her strong and widely spread speech, some empty – and lie-filled – words were dumped by Brazil's president Jair Bolsonaro during the UN General Assembly opening the next day. A sort of summary of everything that he had already said in other opportunities about indigenous people, the environment, politics and the economy, his speech was considered bellicose and disrespectful.
However, the biggest South American country was not totally out of the environmental discussions last week. While the president was lying about the Amazon, which is not intact as he claimed, but has already lost around 20 percent of its biome according to the Living Planet Report, published by WWF in 2018 – a young environmental activist from Brazil made a powerful speech about the climate crisis we currently face. Paloma Costa is a 27 year-old student committed to important projects on climate protection and the environment in Brazil.
Paloma was invited by the Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres to attend the 2019 UN Climate Action Summit in New York, along with other young activists such as Greta Thunberg herself. The Brazilian youth mobilizer talked about the impact of climate change over indigenous and traditional populations and highlighted the indigenous' knowledge and connection with the land, and how we should take advantage of it to protect nature.
Mentioning also the fires in the Amazon, Paloma stated, “we do not need prayers, we need actions. And the reaction we are seeing is not enough”. She demonstrated confidence in the chiefs of State attending the meeting and asked, "I know everyone here is ready. Will you stop talking to turn commitments into actions and solutions?” Paloma also explained the main measure that young activists want to be taken urgently: to declare a climate emergency in order to make the environment a priority of world leaders' agenda.
Also this last week, another Brazilian showed the world that we are not stagnant about environmental issues. Davi Konenawa, from Yanomami people, who had dedicated his life to protect the rights and culture of indigenous populations and the forest and its biodiversity, was chosen to receive the Right Livelihood Award in 2019. One of the four laureates (the others were Greta Thunberg, from Sweden, Aminatou Haidar, from Wastern Sahara, and Guo Jianmei, from China), the co-founder and President of the Hutukara Yanomami Association represents many indigenous people which were, one more time, attacked by Bolsonaro during UN General Assembly opening speech, when he reaffirmed that is not willing to legalize more territory for indigenous.
Bolsonaro was, by the way, supported by a young indigenous YouTuber, Ysani Kalapalo, who is not recognized by any ethnicity as a leader and whose presence at presidential committee was criticized by indigenous associations. Chief Raoni, personally attacked by Bolsonaro, said the president "is not a leader and should go": "Before something serious happens, he must leave, for the good of everyone”.
