For International Indigenous People’s Day this week, we join Pope Francis in raising up the voices of our “Amazonian brothers and sisters” at a crucial moment.
Today and tomorrow, August 8 and 9, nine presidents of Amazonian nations will gather for an Amazon Summit in Brazil. This gathering is expected to be a turning point for the future of the Amazon rainforest. The 2.7 million square miles of forest are home to 390 billion trees and 30 million people from over 350 ethnic groups. Over the past several decades the rainforest has been reduced by deforestation, and it is estimated that at the current pace of deforestation, the Amazon will lose 27% of its size by 2030.
Ahead of the summit, REPAM, the Catholic Ecclesial Pan-Amazonian Network, put forward a list of policy suggestions for the attendees. Among the suggestions were the protection of human rights against violations associated with mining, major infrastructure projects, oil and gas exploration, and deforestation that trades rich biodiversity for monoculture plantations. In a recent interview, water rights defender Patricia Gualinga spoke to some of these issues.
“The native Amazonian peoples have probably never been so threatened on their own lands as they are at present…. On the one hand, there is neo-extractivism and the pressure being exerted by great business interests that want to lay hands on its petroleum, gas, wood, gold and forms of agro-industrial monocultivation. On the other hand, its lands are being threatened by the distortion of certain policies aimed at the ‘conservation’ of nature without taking into account the men and women, specifically you, my Amazonian brothers and sisters.” Pope Francis.
Maryknoll is among among 21 faith groups that signed a letter in support of the people of the Amazon’s proposals to prioritize human rights at a summit on the region this week.
Please amplify the proposals by sending a message to the U.S. State Department. Join us in honoring Indigenous People’s Day by asking our leaders to support the voices of those people who have cared for this sacred biome for centuries.
Photo of a woman Lago Agrio, Nueva Loja, Ecuador by Kiyoshi via Unsplash