Our rivers cannot exist without the forest, our animals cannot live without the forest, and we ourselves depend on these plants and animals for our consumption, for our existence.

Deforesting was one of the greatest catastrophes that happened in our territory. People felled our forests, and that made our rivers very dry. There were many species of fish that disappeared, as the forest has been cut down, many kinds of animals also disappeared, or disappeared from that region at least. We have experienced a lot more heatwaves now, almost unbearable heatwaves. There would be rains during the summer time as if it were winter time, and also dryness during the rainy season. There’s been growing lightning storms and hurricane storms that would come and uproot many trees. We had great floods that caused many animals to die, and even people. Because of climatic changes, there are many species of trees whose fruits are borne before the correct time of the year. All the people who live in the forest realize that over the last 30 years, the changes have been very significant.

…Our environment, our natural fruits, animals and plants are the security of our lives. And if we don’t take care of all these species, of this richness of nature, we are heading towards a great catastrophe that may affect us in a very deep way. 

…I want to show young people in particular how they can tend the forest in order to guarantee their futures, to create a sustainable situation consciously, without harming the environment in such a violent way as man does.

…Our governments are creating projects that actually harm people’s lives, perhaps slowly, but in a very pervasive way. People are just trying to get rich, and they are killing one another, sometimes without even knowing it. …They also need to respect everyone’s lives, the lives of all human beings, who depend on the land to survive. It is our very governments who are killing the earth.

An Brazilian Indigenous Leader Shares His Climate Solutions | Time

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