Mae Mekea

Mae = planeta
Mekea = cuidar  (Huni Kuin Indigenous language) 

‘We do have a story about a very mysterious bird, that is sacred, the owner of the clima, that warns the Huin Kuin people when the cold weather and summer are coming, which is the Shētsi ika. Shētsi ika is a nocturnal bird that we rarely see, but it warns people that the cold weather and summer are coming. It has a very cool song, but we can’t take pictures of it, because it only flies at night, it is very mysterious, we call it Shētsi ika. With its song we already know that the cold weather is coming, and we still experience this to this day, before the cold weather arrives we hear the bird singing at night, warning the people. And our people call this Shētsi ika bird Matsi Yuxibu which means the owner of the clima, the owner of the cold weather’. (Txima Kaxinawá, Indigenous woman leader from Huni Kuin ethnicity, Brazil Amazon, Researcher). Drawing Artist: Txana Itsa, Huni Kuin ethinicy, Ni Yuxibu Indigenous community, Amazon, Acre, Brazil, 2024.

Amazon Indigenous Wisdom: Shaping Climate Solutions in Brazil

Brazil, an Indigenous land, hosts over 60.3% of the Amazon Forest. Within the Brazilian Amazon, 385 Indigenous groups draw upon their ancestral wisdom to address climate change (Hoorn, 2023). However, Brazilian climate change legislation (The National Policy on Climate Change, 2009; The National Fund on Climate Change, 2009; and The Permanent Joint Commission on Climate Change, 2008) far from recognises the vital role of Indigenous ontologies and knowledge in environmental responses.

The Climate Change 2023 Summary Report (2023) does not mention the importance of including Amazon Indigenous community participation and knowledge into the design of climate change policies. In addition, The Brazilian Institute for Socio-Economic Studies (INESC) found that funds from a climate change REDD+ project (Forest + Carbon Program) did not benefit the original beneficiaries (Indigenous People), but were addressed to private landowners in Amazon, contrary to the agreed proposal (INESC, 2020).  

Internationally, it also remains limited the recognition and inclusion of Indigenous knowledge frameworks in the process and research of climate change mitigation and adaptation policies’ design. Indigenous Peoples’ ontologies remain at the periphery of international climate change research. Efforts to integrate Indigenous knowledge into western science encounter difficulties due to differing systems of knowledge production and underlying worldviews. Research problem definition, activities, timescales, and outputs continue to be largely determined by external researchers and/or western funding bodies, rather than by Indigenous communities’ beliefs (Parsons, Fisher & Nalau, 2016).

We recognise the important work that has been done by the Climate Action Tracker (CAT), Amazonian Cooperation Network in Latin America (RCA), The Indigenous Committee on Climate Change in Brazil (CIMC), Mission Council among Indigenous Peoples (COMIN),The Local Communities and Indigenous People Platform developed by the UN (LCIPP) as part of the Paris Agreement (COP-21,2015), The International Indigenous People Forum on Climate Change established by COP-14 in 2008, The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and The Amazon Watch. From these previous work groups, we understand that climate change transformative Indigenous research requires the adoption of decolonizing methodologies.

Therefore, our project is centred on Indigenous ontological pluralism in the context of global environmental change in the Amazon Biome in Brazil. More recently, on 20/03/2024, the Brazilian government promoted the `I International Meeting on Indigenous Science and Climate Justice: between communities and universities`, which was an important step to recognise the importance of Indigenous knowledge on climate change governance. On 26/03/2024, Brazil and France agreed with a plan to leverage public and private investments of 1 billion euros in sustainable economy projects in Amazon. In 2025, Brazil will convene The UN Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC COP 30) in the city of Belem in Amazon. This marks a significant milestone as it will be the first time the Amazon hosts a UNFCCC COP. 

Our project is also based on a series of previous international works e.g. Brubacher & et al (2024) on climate change and Indigenous health; Reyes-García & et al. (2024) on local studies about climate change; Reyes-García (2023) on climate change impacts on Indigenous People; Rosengren, Permanto & Burman (2023) on decolonizing environmental politics; Bauer, Wil De & Verina (2022) on Indigenous perspective on climate change; The UNICEF report (2022) about climate justice; The UNESCO Report (2018) on Indigenous knowledge for climate change; Rosengren (2018) on local understandings of climate change in Amazon; Parsons, Fisher & Nalau (2017) on Indigenous communities; Crate & Nuttall (2009) on anthropology and climate change; and Keller, Bustamante, Gash & Silva Dias (2009) on Amazon and global change.